


The Friend Zone

by BunnyBean



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Happy Ending, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Friendship, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2017-12-31 13:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyBean/pseuds/BunnyBean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing is interesting if you're not interested, and Ryoma has always found Sakuno to be interesting. Recently, she has him thinking about her to the point of distraction, which leads to a series of failed attempts to get her attention back to where it's always belonged. On him. RyoSaku</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OrangeAce (arahbesque)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=OrangeAce+%28arahbesque%29).



> IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON THIS FIC:
> 
> This is the story I wrote for the 2013 Summer RyoSaku Express Fandom Exchange hosted by neko11lover. Below is my request prompt:
> 
> For OrangeAce
> 
> Canon Knowledge: Anime only
> 
> What you want to receive: Fic
> 
> Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested
> 
> What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts
> 
> What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

**The Friend Zone**

By Bunny

Rated: T

Summary: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested, and Ryoma has always found Sakuno to be interesting. Recently, she has him thinking about her to the point of distraction, which leads to a series of failed attempts to get her attention back to where it's always belonged. On him.

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

Echizen Ryoma couldn't believe it.

How had this possibly happened? When had things changed? How had he missed the signs? Had there not been any? Had it happened overnight? Hadn't he been obvious enough?

Was it possible she was really that stupid? Or had she simply changed her mind?

The idea of it was really so fresh, so new, so shocking, he was still wrapping his mind around it but...there was no mistaking it. The way Ryuzaki Sakuno had started talking to him left no doubt...

He was in _THE FRIEND ZONE._

How in the world did he end up in her friend zone? It was truly a mystery. See...Ryuzaki and him...they had always, always, _always_ been anything but friends. The day they met they'd been anything but friends. She'd always liked him, and the feeling had been completely mutual.

Of course, when they'd first met, they'd only been twelve. So naturally, not much had really come of it, and over the past few years things hadn't really changed.

Ryoma thought that they had both been perfectly content with the way things were. That is, there were obvious signs of their mutual attraction, but neither of them had pursued more than some simple flirting, walks home, and the regular exchanging of gifts for important things like birthdays and holidays.

It had been great. It had been comfortable. It had given him stability. She was something he could rely on in his life. They were as together as they could be without actually saying anything about being together or doing anything really romantic. It allowed him to keep his focus where it should be...on tennis.

He was a simple guy. He _liked_ his life simple. There was tennis and there was _everything else that he had to do_ that wasn't tennis. Included in that everything else was girls. One day he would want a girl of his own. He was lucky enough to meet that girl when he was twelve, and they had _an understanding._

An understanding that when the time came...you know...when they grew up...they would be together. It was a given that they would be together. It made sense. It was nice and simple. It was just the way he liked everything in his life that wasn't tennis. When he decided he wanted to step things up, Ryuzaki was waiting for him. It would be nice and easy.

_Or so he'd thought._

Then this morning, everything had fallen apart. He was still pissed off about it. _How could she do this to him?_ What had he ever done to deserve this...this... _great insult_ from her? Who gave her permission to put him in the friend zone? _THE FRIEND ZONE!_

His day had started out a little worse than any other day started out. He woke up groggy. He was really not a morning person, but this was worse than usual. Had he not slept well? Did he eat something funny before bed? He couldn't remember, everything was so foggy.

After slugging his way through his morning routine, he'd plopped into his chair at the breakfast table, "Western breakfast again?"

"I swear Ryoma, we should just stop feeding you," His mother snapped back.

Ryoma frowned. _What the hell was her problem?_ He rarely complained about his food these days. Nothing like he had when he'd been younger. Usually his mom just brushed his comments about it off. So why was she being so snappy about it today? Wasn't he allowed to voice his opinion every once in awhile? They knew his food preferences, but somehow they still had western food more often than not. So of course he still felt the need to reinforce his unchanged opinion every once in awhile. Especially when he was having a bad morning.

Apparently, he just wasn't the only one grouchy this morning. _How annoying._

A minute later a steaming plate of food was placed in front of him, and Ryoma dug into his eggs and bacon without any further ado. It was just not worth complaining about it any more. So troublesome.

"So how's your little girlfriend doing? We haven't seen her in a while," his father opened with as he took a sip of his coffee. He had his usual monk outfit on and was glossing over a newspaper. Ryoma would bet his left arm his father was just using the newspaper to hide whatever pervy pictures his old man was _really_ looking at.

Ryoma barely glanced in the direction of his father as he irritably muttered his usual reply to such an inquiry, "I don't have a girlfriend."

"What's this all about? Did you guys break up? Do I need to call the Old Hag and apologize for having such a worthless son?"

Ryoma barely restrained himself from growling with annoyance. Why did his old man always have to bring up crap like this when he was obviously having a bad morning? It was such a pain. Not to mention he still had no idea where his old man had gotten the idea in his head that Ryuzaki was his girlfriend in the first place. If he wasn't so over it after years of her being referred to as such, he would be annoyed about that too. In fact...he was feeling a bit annoyed about it anyway...because whatever _was_ or _was not_ going on between Ryuzaki and himself was _certainly not_ any of his dirty old man's business.

He looked up from his eggs and bacon and gave his old man a knowing smirk, "I doubt Coach will be happy to hear you want to leer at her granddaughter. OUCH!"

"OWW!" Nanjiro echoed.

"Don't talk like that at the breakfast table," Rinko scolded her two boys after slapping them both on the backs of their heads.

"Rinko, we're _just having some fun,"_ Nanjiro whined as he scratched the back of his head where he'd just been smacked.

"Oh...like that magazine you're hiding behind that newspaper kind-of fun?"

Ryoma's eyes widened. _It was time to get the hell out of here._ Where this conversation was headed...he didn't want any part of it. They were going to either fight and then go have some alone time...or go have some alone time...or he didn't really want to know more about their habits than he did already. His parents had a strange way of flirting, or foreplay, or ewwww...whatever it was called, he didn't want to hear or be around for any more of it.

He took a large gulp of his orange juice, trying to get as much of it down as possible in one gulp, grabbed a piece of toast and rose up from his chair.

"Leaving already, Seishounen?" His dad asked.

He gave a slight nod as he made his way out of the kitchen and into the entryway. As he quickly slid his shoes on and grabbed his tennis bag, his father called through the house, "Bring Sakuno-chan over sometime. I bet she's all filled out and pretty now. You should show your girlfriend off to your parents."

Ryoma's eyes narrowed at the door as he called back, "Yada."

Leaving the house, he slammed the front door behind him and put his piece of toast back into his mouth. It crunched satisfactorily as his teeth bit into it.

Damn...sometimes he really missed Nanako. His old man hadn't been nearly as outrageous when she'd still been living with them.

He leisurely strolled towards Seigaku High School as he munched on his toast, still trying to wake up and get a bearing on why he was so damn tired this morning. Ryuzaki...all filled out and pretty. _The hell..._

She had always been pretty.

He didn't think about it much because it made him feel pressure to do things...things he wasn't sure he was ready to do just yet, but it was true...Ryuzaki _had_ filled out. He kind of felt like he would have to have been blind not to notice, but seeing as how she was his girl, that's probably why he noticed it. After all, you had to be interested in someone to notice things like that...right? He hadn't paid attention to any of the other girls that had probably also recently... _filled out._

Ryuzaki on the other hand...he noticed it all right. Her body... _changing._ She had all sorts of curves now that she didn't have when they were younger. They'd really started showing up last year when they were in their final year of middle school, but this year she was looking _all woman._

It made him... _uncomfortable._

Lately, it had gotten so bad that he could barely even look at her. His mind would just travel to this other place. This place where she was beneath him making little sounds in her throat as he roamed his hands under her clothes and sucked on her neck. Or even worse was when he imagined her legs wrapped around him as he...

STOP! Can't think about it!

He paused there on the sidewalk and shook his head back and forth as if trying to shake his thoughts free. _Calm down...calm down..._

"Ryoma-kun!" A startled female voice cried out behind him.

He froze.

_Oh...no..._

He heard the quick slaps of her mary janes hitting the pavement as she ran up to him. A hand landed on his shoulder, and a second later her big cinnamon eyes appeared in his line of vision, "Are you okay? Is your head bothering you?"

Oh man...Ryuzaki did not just catch him fantasizing about doing naughty things with her curvy little body.

Not waiting for an answer from him, her other hand had already began rubbing over his head. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but her hand felt amazing in his hair. Oh man...she was _touching_ him. This uncomfortable thing was about to get even worse.

He felt like he couldn't even _walk_ now.

She moved closer as her hand roamed towards the back of his head. She pushed up on her tiptoes and her breasts pushed into his chest so she could reach all the way. She let out a soft, "Hmm," while her hand continued to run over his scalp through his black locks.

Hot damn. _She was going to kill him._ Her body felt even better than he imagined it would when it was pressed up against his. He was going to grab her and do all kinds of things to her and...oh no. He really needed to move back... _NOW,_ but...she smelled so good that he kind of just wanted to eat her up...and see what...

His hand twitched as he finally managed to take a big step back. It came out more irritable than intended, "Ryuzaki...I'm fine."

She frowned up at him and it was all he could do to keep himself from closing the new distance between them and pressing his lips against hers. He needed to get away from her... _it wasn't time yet for that stuff._ He still had _tennis_...and _tennis_...and he couldn't get all wrapped up in his sudden interest in Ryuzaki and her curves right now.

"Ryoma-kun, you were standing on the sidewalk shaking your head. There must be something wrong," She insisted.

Well, hell. What do you say to something like that? 'I was imagining tearing your clothes off and licking your hot little body, so...you know...'

Yeah...he would never say something like that. It was bad enough he thought about those things...saying them would just make him as big of a perv as his old man. Well, maybe not as big of a perv as his old man. Any male would be hard pressed to be _as big of a perv_ as his old man.

"Ryoma-kun is spacing out. It's not like you. I couldn't feel anything, but did you hit your head or something?"

He shook his head again, trying to get rid of the new thought he'd come up with of licking her all over...this was so out of control. Couldn't she just GO AWAY and leave him in peace to collect himself? Girls! They were so damn clueless!

She stepped towards him again, her hand reaching towards his head one more time and something inside of him just...snapped.

You know what? Maybe _it was_ time. Time to start this thing for real. Time for them to stop with the childish relationship and move into something more... _adult._ She was driving him so crazy lately he couldn't even be in her company, which was a huge problem. He liked her company. He also had tennis practice with her every Sunday, and the past few weeks he'd been neglecting really teaching her because he'd been too busy caught up in some fantasy to pay attention to her tennis. They were almost sixteen, lots of their friends were dating, or had dated already. Maybe if he could just get this fire put out with her, he could get back to focusing completely on _tennis._

He stepped back towards her and she smiled up at him sweetly, like she always did.

Wow...this was really happening. This was finally really going to happen. He was going to do it. Placing his hands lightly against her hips, he tilted his head down slightly, "Ne...Ryuzaki...don't you think it's time?"

He watched as her eyes quickly widened with realization. Good. She knew what he meant. Just like he'd always thought. This was going to be too easy...

He tilted his head down closer to hers, while she looked down.

_Wait...why is she looking down when he was up?_

He had barely registered that she was looking at her watch and then her head snapped up and caught his chin.

"UGH," He grunted from the impact as his teeth smashed down on his tongue.

_What the hell just happened? This was NOT supposed to happen!_

"Oh my! Ryoma-kun!" She was fluttering around him now as he bent over, spitting blood out of his mouth onto the sidewalk. _He couldn't remember feeling so embarrassed in all his life._

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were so close, I just- you said it was time and I realized we must be late for school and then-"

He tuned her out as she kept on blabbering. He felt like he'd just bit off the end of his tongue. His whole mouth throbbed with pain. Before he could even think straight she was grabbing onto his wrist as she started pulling him towards school.

"Let's get to the nurse's office, Ryoma-kun! I can't believe I hurt you so badly, I'm so embarrassed. I hope it doesn't mess up your tennis."

His eyes narrowed at her slight form that was now barely in front of him as she dragged him along by his wrist. It was oddly reminiscent of the time he'd cut his eyelid in their first year of middle school during a tennis match and she'd fussed over him. Only this time, she was getting her way and taking care of him.

He couldn't help but let her do it. She was touching him again...and he'd just decided he was really okay with her touching him. In fact, he wanted her to touch him more. _A lot more._

"I don't need my mouth to play tennis, Ryuzaki," He deadpanned.

Silly girl. As if a bit tongue would have any impact on his tennis. No...nothing to do with his tennis. Though he didn't know about kissing...and he had been anxious to try that out a few minutes ago. Now he would have to wait.

Maybe he was wrong and this was the universe's way of telling him it wasn't time yet?

Her hand slid down his wrist and grasped his hand. She turned slightly as she continued to walk. Her braids swayed with the cool fall breeze and she flashed him that radiant smile she sends his way when they talk about his tennis skills. As it always had, it took his breath away.

_She was more than pretty._

"Ryoma-kun," It was all she said. She didn't need to say more. He understood. She got him. She really got him.

Okay...universe be damned. It was definitely time.

This bit tongue thing, it was just _a minor_ setback.


	2. Chapter Two

**The Friend Zone**

By Bunny

Rated: T

Summary: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested, and Ryoma has always found Sakuno to be interesting. Recently, she has him thinking about her to the point of distraction, which leads to a series of failed attempts to get her attention back to where it's always belonged. On him.

* * *

_IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON THIS FIC:_

This is the story I wrote for the **2013 Summer RyoSaku Express Fandom Exchange** hosted by **neko11lover**. Below is my request prompt:

_For **OrangeAce**_

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

By the time they arrived at school, Ryoma's tongue had already stopped bleeding. Despite Sakuno's continued insistence that they go visit the school nurse, his stubbornness to not go won out. While still grasping on to her delicate little hand, he dragged her to the vending machine and bought the two of them some cold Pontas.

Cracking open his can, he took a large gulp of the cold drink. The chilled liquid wrapped around his abused tongue, giving him instant relief.

_Ponta had never tasted so good._

"We're going to get in trouble for being late," Sakuno commented as she took a sip of her own cold soda.

They were sitting down on the bench next to the vending machine looking out over the empty school grounds. Classes had already started so they were out there all alone. Well, as alone as it got at school...their schoolmates could probably see them if they were looking out of the windows.

_Nosy schoolmates...or unfocused ones...or...or...whatever..._

"Hn," He acknowledged. She was right. They _would_ get in trouble. Maybe they would have to stand out in the hallway? Just the two of them...alone in the empty hallway. They could sneak off to an unused room and...

STOP! STOP! Can't think about this stuff...it's how they ended up late for school in the first place. Besides...his tongue was still all swollen from earlier so the timing wasn't right anymore.

"Maybe we should just skip?" She asked.

He turned to the side to look at her in shock. Wait a minute. What? There's no way that sweet little Ryuzaki just suggested something _so bad._

Skipping school. He'd never done it since he arrived in Japan. Sometimes he'd done it back in the US, but it was just so he could go play tennis. He'd never skipped before to hang out with a girl.

Although, Ryuzaki was the exception to all girls. She always had been. She always would be.

She giggled, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I can't believe you just suggested we skip school," He blurted.

She shrugged, "We're almost sixteen, Ryoma-kun...shouldn't we skip school at least once?"

Who was this girl and what had she done with Ryuzaki Sakuno? Hmmm. Well, honestly...he wasn't going to complain about it. It was _maybe kind-of sort-of_ cool.

He stood up, "Okay."

She stood up as well, "Okay what?"

"Okay, let's skip."

She giggled again, "I can't wait to tell Tomo-chan we skipped school, she's going to freak out."

Ryoma didn't know what to say. He was still surprised she'd even thought of, let alone suggested something rebellious such as skipping classes. Generally speaking she was a goody-goody. Or maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought he did.

Naw, it was probably just some silly idea she'd come up with in the moment and thankfully, he was the person with her when she'd suggested it.

Too bad his tongue was all messed up. Maybe it would heal quickly? Maybe they could get things started today after all?

As they made their way back out of the school gate she turned to him and asked, "So now what are we going to do?"

Ryoma looked down at his school uniform and looked over at hers, "Change clothes."

"Oh? Ryoma-kun has skipped before?"

He sent her a smirk, "Only back in the States."

She grinned as she grabbed for his hand again. She started leading the way out into the city street, "I know _just the place!_ There's this guy there that likes me, so he always gives me a discount."

Wait. _What was this about some other guy liking her?_

Of course, before they could get to this terrible place where some terrible guy had the audacity to like _his_ girl, she managed to get herself turned around and lost. This girl...she never really changes. She might be curvier, shorter than him now, and for some reason want to ditch school for a day, but her hips were still wobbly, her hair was still too long, her planning was still bad, and her sense of direction still _sucked._

After quite a bit of flustered babbling from her and a few more bad turns, they finally ended up at the place. Ryoma thought it was a miracle they'd found it. He wasn't looking forward to meeting this guy that supposedly liked his... _whatever she was_ , but he was anxious to change out of his uniform. They'd already received several suspicious looks wandering around town during school hours in their uniforms.

"Welcome!" They were greeted enthusiastically by all the employees as they entered the shop.

Sure enough, there was a guy waving from the back at Sakuno.

A terrible, terrible guy indeed. He was smiling at her with this really stupid look. Ryoma kind-of wanted to smack a tennis ball towards his face. Hard.

"Good morning Yamada-kun!" Sakuno greeted cheerfully.

She sounded happy to see him. Ryoma wanted to puke.

He half expected her to go talk to this Yamada guy, but instead she quickly began shopping, grabbing one article of clothing after another. Ryoma took that as his own cue to go find something. He veered off towards the menswear and quickly selected a few items.

They almost ran into each other in the back by the dressing rooms where Yamada was keeping busy reorganizing items to head back out to the store racks. Ryoma noted with irritation that she was slightly flushed pink as she was shown by Yamada into a dressing room. Ryoma was shown into the one next to hers.

The dressing room was small, just like the store. It was a little cubed area with nothing but a curtain covering the enclosure for a measure of privacy. Ryoma noted with irritation that there wasn't even a mirror in the small area.

He tugged off his school uniform and changed into a pair of black pants and a plain t-shirt. He moved around a bit, shaking his legs and arms, trying to get a feel for if the clothes fit well, but it wasn't really cutting it. He needed a mirror. Hoping there was no one outside of the dressing room, he slid the curtain aside at the same moment the curtain in the stall next to him opened up.

Surprised at the timing, Ryoma looked over at Sakuno who was giving him an equally surprised look. He froze for a fraction of a second...even though in his mind it felt like a millennium. His eyes were quickly absorbing her entire body. The top she was in (if you could even call it that) was barely covering her breasts, they were practically spilling out of the top of it, and the skirt was so short, he could swear he could make out the side of her bum!

_What the hell?_

Before anybody else could have a look at her, he was magically unfrozen. He moved so quickly, it felt like slow motion as he plowed his whole body into hers. Without even thinking about it, he yanked the curtain to her dressing room closed behind him as his body continued to push hers forward until they hit the back wall of the small changing area.

She let out a startled yelp on impact. She blinked up at him, as he stared at her bare chest while it heaved against his. She was trying to catch her breath, and he instantly felt bad that he'd probably knocked the wind out of her when he'd slammed her against the wall with his bigger body.

It was just that...she was...and he couldn't let...

Unconsciously, he moved his face closer to hers, smelling the top of her hair. She smelled sweet like candy, or fruit, or Ponta. He couldn't quite place it, but it made him want to taste...well...it was definitely something sweet. He hadn't even realized how close their faces were until he felt the edge of his bottom lip brush up against skin.

Upon the contact, they both took in a sharp inhale.

Oh...that was the tip of her ear. _So...soft._

"What are you wearing?" He asked gruffly, his lips continuing to brush against the shell of her ear here and there as he spoke. Mmmm...so tempting. She felt so soft all over, he wanted to just...

He felt her body shiver, and his body responded by pushing against hers.

_Oh..._

"I...I..."

How cute, she was stuttering again. She hadn't done that around him for at least a year.

The curtain behind them made a ringing sound from the rings sliding against the rod as it was suddenly yanked open.

Ryoma turned his head and shot a hateful look at Yamada, who was standing there with his mouth open wide enough to catch a tennis ball.

"Get out!" Ryoma barked.

Yamada's finger rose, pointing accusatorily at Ryoma's back as he sputtered, "You-what-just-you- _what do you think you are doing?"_

Ryoma's eyes narrowed warningly, as his body shifted slightly to cover up Sakuno more. She gasped, her face naturally raising up to look at Ryoma. She only caught his profile though, since he was still turned away from her towards the doorway.

"Out!" Ryoma repeated.

"But-"

"Can't you see we're busy?" Ryoma added irritably.

Yamada's eyes widened to the size of saucers as Ryoma continued to glare daggers into his face.

Finally, Yamada stammered out an apology, blushed ten shades of red, and then with a whip of the curtain, they were once again in semi-privacy.

"Ry-Ryoma-kun..." Her hips wiggled for a second and that was when Ryoma realized there was a lot more going on in the little dressing room that even he thought.

_Hell._

Now what was he supposed to say?

Deciding to go with the obvious, he looked down at her and huffed, "Your chest is falling out of your top, Ryuzaki."

He watched as she blinked up at him for a moment, obviously confused at his meaning. She followed his gaze down to where he was looking, took in her cleavage and gasped with realization. He watched as every part of her that was visible turned bright red, which was quite a bit of her. He idly wondered if the parts of her he couldn't see were red too. _He'd be willing to bet a grand slam title that they were._

"Ryoma-kun!" She exclaimed scandalously.

He let his hand slide down the wall past her head as he gave her a casual, "Hn."

Her head turned to the side and stared at his hand lying against the wall for a moment before she added softly, "Thank you... _I think."_

"Your skirt is too short," He added as his other hand slid down the wall on the other side of her body. Unable to help himself, he grazed the tips of his fingers against the soft flesh of her thigh where her skirt ended. She jumped, and consequently pressed herself further into his arms.

_Good._

"Hmmmmmmm..." He could swear he could feel her heart beating a million times a minute against his chest.

She was still blushing as she stammered, "I..I...I see your...a...p-point."

He smirked down at her as they stood there for a few minutes in silence. Her face was beet red and she was still heaving panting breaths, her chest pushing against his with each quick inhale. He looked right at home as he pinned her to the wall with his larger body.

"I guess I'll change into one of these other outfits," She finally suggested after she gathered her breath.

Ryoma didn't move an inch.

She lifted her hands up from her sides and pushed them lightly against his chest as she said, "Ryoma-kun can go now."

His eyebrows rose, "No."

Her eyes widened, "What?"

He nodded his head in the direction of the curtain and said, "Did you see how he opened the curtain on us?"

"Oh."

There was another prolonged pause and then Sakuno said, "B-but I c-can't change with Ryoma-kun h-here."

"Sure you can," He quipped.

She giggled and pushed against his chest again, a little harder this time, "Don't be silly. I can't even move!"

He shuffled back a little, getting as far away from her as he could while still keeping his hands against the wall. Lifting his head up towards the ceiling he said, "Change. I won't look."

"But-!"

"I saw most of it already anyway Ryuzaki," He added.

The blush that had finally subsided returned tenfold as she let out a soft "Mou," but started moving around nonetheless to go ahead and change. After all, it really wouldn't do if Yamada-kun saw her changing. At least Ryoma-kun was looking away and making sure she wouldn't be seen if the curtain opened again.

Sakuno's mind whirled on overdrive as she quickly removed her outfit and put on another one. A lot more had happened in her little changing room in the last few minutes than she was fully ready to wrap her mind around. A lot more was still happening...every time...she bumped into him in this small space he'd given her to change in...

_Was this really happening?_ Knowing she wouldn't be caught with Ryoma-kun looking up, she allowed herself a small glance at his pants and then immediately looked away as she was flooded with the strongest reaction she'd ever had in her entire life!

Should _NOT_ have done that! Oh...oh...oh...it... _aahahahahahahhhh..._

Okay...so she'd _always_ admired Ryoma-kun. She'd always hoped that someday their relationship would progress into something more _romantic_. She'd always thought in the back of her mind that _maybe_ he did like her back since he was decidedly nicer to her than he was to other girls. Well, as nice as Ryoma-kun was capable of anyway. What she'd never thought of was that one day he would press his hard body up against hers and act like it was completely normal.

There was nothing normal about this. It had been the last thing she'd ever expected to happen to her today as she'd left the house to go to school. _Even though they'd had clothes on, she had still felt it, and now...she hadn't been able to help her curious, dirty little mind from taking a peek on top of that._

She'd never been so scared and excited about anything in her life before.

What did it mean?

What was she going to do?

 


	3. Chapter Three

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

It took every single ounce of Ryoma's self control not to groan as he felt Sakuno changing from the skimpy outfit into whatever she was putting on now. Her body kept brushing up against his, and it was all he could do not to seize the opportunity to grab her and do all the naughty things to her he'd been imagining recently. Instead, he kept his face stoic, not letting on that he was affected in the slightest, well, at least not anymore affected than his traitorous body had already informed her of.

At least she hadn't said anything about it. He didn't know what he would say if she did.

Maybe, 'It's natural Ryuzaki.'

Or, 'Are you embarrassed? How innocent you are.'

Or, 'Oh, you liked that, did you? How about we go somewhere private and see what else happens?'

Or, 'It's your fault. Take responsibility.'

Oh...he kind-of liked that one. If he said that to Ryuzaki she'd probably faint. _It would be hilarious._

"I'm done," Sakuno announced, interrupting his wayward thoughts.

Ryoma looked down at her, and took in her much more modest outfit. She was wearing a knee length dress, and a sweater. Her eyes met his, her face still slightly flushed as she timidly asked, "Shall we go then?"

He gave a slight nod as he finally moved away from her. She gathered up her belongings and a moment later they were exiting the changing area together.

Yamada stood just outside the curtain, a scowl on his face. "Ryuzaki-san, you never told me you had a boyfriend."

Wow. He sounded pretty bitter.

Ryoma gloated. That's right. Mine. Mine...she's _mine._

Sakuno giggled nervously, "What? _No!_ This is just Ryoma-kun. We're old friends, that's all."

Ryoma's internal glee instantly disappeared to be replaced with a stab of disloyalty. He coughed slightly in an attempt to get rid of the sudden pain in his chest.

The hell? Just Ryoma-kun?

_Just Ryoma-kun?_

Old friends? _That's all?_

Sure they'd never exactly defined their relationship over the years, but they were _certainly_ more than _just old friends._ She knew it just as well as he knew it. Even their families and classmates viewed them as more of a couple than as just friends. Even if it wasn't...official or whatever.

Ryoma was so surprised at her declaration, he didn't even pay attention to the rest of the conversation the two had as he grouchily grabbed his belongings from his own changing room. Yamada did indeed give them a discount for their purchases, but Ryoma barely paid the whole encounter any mind as he went through the motions of paying. He was too distracted thinking about the virtual sucker punch Sakuno had just sent him. Soon enough they left the store, ready to begin their day away from school.

Ryoma had doubts about this whole ditching school plan. He'd just decided that he was pretty pissed off that Ryuzaki had just referred to him as _just a friend_ to some other male that was interested in her. He was pretty sure she'd been flirting with this Yamada person ever since they'd exited the changing room as well.

He felt sick again.

As if that wasn't bad enough, she now drove the dagger in further as she turned to him and asked him, "So what do you think?"

Ryoma's eyes shifted to look over to the side at her as they slowly walked down the street, their next destination still undecided.

At his lack of response she elaborated, "About Yamada-kun. Do you think he likes me?"

She did _not_ just ask him for his opinion about her with another guy. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. WAIT. Talking about relationships with other guys? This could only mean _one thing._ Indeed, it was the moment he realized it...

Ryuzaki Sakuno had put him, Echizen Ryoma...in _the friend zone._

_What...in the..._

"He's a pervert."

Sakuno stopped walking as she said, "What? Why?"

Ryoma stopped and turned back towards her, "He walked in on us in the changing room, Ryuzaki."

He didn't bother to elaborate further. It was _obvious_ he was a pervert. What kind of _sick person_ walked in on someone in a changing room? _How could she even consider this guy at all after that had just happened?_

Not to mention...how could she even _look_ at anybody that wasn't _him?_ Had she completely forgotten about... _them?_ Did she...really not like _him?_

Sakuno muttered something unintelligible before she replied in a slightly accusatory tone, "Ryoma-kun saw me."

"But _I'm just Ryoma-kun. We're just old friends."_

Sakuno gaped at her companion. _What was that all about?_ He said it like it was a bad thing! What did _that_ mean? He didn't want to be friends with her? He didn't think of her as a friend? What was she then? _His enemy?!_ They knew each other too well to be anything else like just an acquaintance or just a classmate.

Unless...he meant... _more than friends._

No. No. No. That couldn't be it. Sure, she'd hoped for that plenty of times, and for a long time she'd been sure that was the direction their relationship had been headed, but even with the... _very recent physical evidence_...she was pretty certain he didn't see her _that way._

After all, if he was interested in her like that, he could have just ravished her in that changing room at the store. It's not like she would have minded...he had to know that considering how she hadn't screamed and pushed him away after he'd all but thrust himself into her with their clothes on.

No, the sad reality was that Ryoma-kun was only interested in one thing. Tennis. So, she was not interesting to him. Or at least, she was not interesting enough to take his interest away from tennis. Which meant...they were just friends and it would stay that way. She couldn't forget it. After all this time, she'd finally figured it out just this year and moving on from him was _important._

The school year had started out promising enough. Ryoma-kun had sought her out on day one, excited (by his standards) to tell her about getting back together with the old team from their first year of middle school. Momo-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai, and the others had teased them about being a couple, and neither of them had denied it. Those days had been filled with hope and joy. She'd practically glowed every morning on her way to school. She'd glowed in the afternoons, watching Ryoma-kun play with the senpai. She'd glowed on the weekends during their tennis lessons they had together. It would be any day now. The moment she'd been waiting for all these years. The moment when Ryoma-kun would finally ask her to be his girlfriend. For real.

But...the moment hadn't come. Tennis season had ended, and then nothing. They'd simply gone about day after day and _nothing._ Their classmates had started hooking up. Dividing off into little groups and pairs. Even her best friend Tomo-chan had gotten a boyfriend, leaving Sakuno feeling lonelier about her going nowhere love life.

Finally, she'd started to feel like giving up. Maybe she'd been mistaken all these years? Maybe the signals she'd thought she'd received from him had just been girlish fancies?

She'd still held out a shred of hope until the most recent time that Kawamura-senpai had come to visit.

It had been a typical late summer afternoon with the hot sun blazing down. The hard tennis courts had heat waves floating off of them into the air. The boys were sweaty and tired. Oh yes, the tennis team was still practicing after school, even though tennis season was over. After all, they had no time for slacking off if they were going to keep winning the Nationals every year. Which meant training every day after school would continue until the next school year.

Sakuno had been on the sidelines, alone that day, like most days of late...that is, ever since Tomo-chan got a boyfriend and had made a habit of going out with him after school. It was fine being alone, she still enjoyed watching the boys practice after her own practice ended, and Ryoma-kun would usually walk her home when she stayed late to watch them.

Kawamura-senpai had been forced by his family to quit school after middle school to work fulltime at their family's sushi restaurant, and thus hadn't been able to join the team in high school. He still came by to visit every once in awhile though, and he'd play a friendly match here and there with some of the old regulars from their middle school days.

Sakuno had always enjoyed the days when Kawamura-senpai showed up. He'd usually sit with her and keep her company for a while, taking away a bit of her loneliness at missing Tomo-chan and her frustrations with her not-going-anywhere-yet relationship she had with Ryoma-kun. He liked to tell her about antics that had happened at the sushi shop, and crack jokes about Inui-senpai and his scary juices.

_She never would have seen it coming._

She'd still been giggling at a story he'd told her about a funny old man that had been in the shop the night before when he'd suddenly asked with all seriousness, "Ne...Sakuno-chan, you're turning sixteen soon, aren't you?"

Sakuno's giggling had stopped abruptly at the odd question. Turning away from the boys practicing out on the courts, she turned to the side to take in her companion. His face looked just as serious as his question had sounded.

"Yes..." She answered hesitantly.

_What was this all about?_

He gave her a shaky smile before he asked, "So...seeing as how you're almost old enough to get married, have you...started dating with anybody?"

Sakuno felt herself flush as she blinked up at her former senpai with complete surprise. It was such a personal question...she didn't expect it from him.

"AAAAAAHHHHH! Why is Sakuno-chan blushing!?"

They both whipped their heads back towards the court where Kikumaru-senpai had abandoned his play. He was jumping up on the chain link fence that separated them making quite a bit of a fuss.

"What did you say to her Takashi? Are you teasing her about O-chibi-chan?"

Sakuno felt her flush deepen with further embarrassment as Kawamura-senpai floundered helplessly by her side. Her mind was spinning about with implications of the conversation Kawamura-senpai had just initiated so she missed what he said as he scratched at the back of his head and blushed. All she gathered was that he was scolding Kikumaru-senpai for interrupting their conversation.

"WHHHAAAAT?" Kikumaru-senpai blurted.

The next thing she knew, Kikumaru-senpai had jumped down from the fence and bolted off towards the far court where Ryoma-kun and Tezuka-senpai were engaging in a match.

"O-chibi! O-chibi! QUICK! Takashi is trying to steal away your girlfriend!"

Hearing the frantically yelled out words, Sakuno's eyes widened in disbelief. She watched as Ryoma-kun completely ignored Kikumaru-senpai while he continued with his volley.

Realizing what Kikumaru-senpai had just said, she turned to the side and took in the blushing form of her former senpai.

"Kawamura-senpai..."

He waved his hand cutting off her question and said quickly, "I don't know if you have anything with Echizen, but I always liked you, Sakuno-chan. My parents are starting to pressure me about dating, so I thought maybe you and I could go out sometime and get to know each other better?"

Sakuno blinked with shock and surprise.

Kikumaru-senpai, not missing a beat of what was going on, seemed to be suffering from a sudden bout of insanity. He was screaming at the top of his lungs while jumping up and down and waving his arms around madly. He even dropped his racquet.

At that point, everybody had stopped playing except for Ryoma-kun and Tezuka-senpai. Momo-senpai had joined in with Kikumaru-senpai's freak out and he was making some desperate attempt to get Ryoma-kun's attention away from his match. Inui-senpai was scribbling furiously in his notebook as he muttered something about data. Oishi-senpai was running frantically across the courts towards Kikumaru-senpai. Kaidoh-senpai had a wide-eyed look in his eyes shot Sakuno's direction that made her want to squirm in her seat. Even Fuji-senpai had his eyes open, staring down Kawamura-senpai through the fence.

Sakuno found herself sitting there on the sidelines, frozen with shock and disbelief.

_Was any of this really happening?_

She didn't know what to make of all of it. She was caught _so_ off guard. Even in a million years she wouldn't have expected that anybody would ask her out since most everybody she knew always paired her up with Ryoma-kun.

That was when it all happened though. That was when she figured it all out. The whole of the Seigaku High School tennis team was at the very least passively interested in her love life, save for Ryoma-kun himself, and their stoic captain, Tezuka-senpai.

That was when she'd realized it. Ryoma-kun only saw her as a friend. A good friend, certainly. A friend he trusted. A friend he stayed in contact with even when he was out of the country. A friend he hung out with on occasion, even if she was a girl and even if she sucked at tennis. _But she was just a friend._

Otherwise, surely...when someone so close to the both of them had decided to make a move on her, he would have at the very least noticed and showed some interest in the outcome. If he liked her he would have at least said or done something...right? Instead, he hadn't done or said _anything_. He hadn't even given them a glance. He'd only been interested in his tennis match.

From that point forward, Sakuno had made it a point to rework her thinking on Echizen Ryoma. They were friends. They would always be friends. They would never be anything more than friends. He simply wasn't interested in her in _that way._ It was time to move forward, it was time to look at other boys. _It was time to accept reality._

That afternoon, as the tennis team had continued with their antics, and Ryoma-kun had continued to ignore the situation, she'd hastily asked Kawamura-senpai if she could think about it. He'd been gracious about telling her to take as much time as she needed.

That had been almost two months ago. Not long after that, she'd met Yamada-kun at the clothing store. He was all right. She wasn't really sure what she thought of him. She just knew he wasn't Ryoma-kun or someone she'd known as just a friend for the past few years like Kawamura-senpai was and that he was interested in her.

That was something.

She hadn't had much time to seriously think about dating Kawamura-senpai. Since she had known him and Ryoma-kun as teammates, it was difficult to make a separation. Sometimes, she felt like she was almost practicing with Yamada-kun. What was she going to do? Should she ask Ryoma-kun about Kawamura-senpai as well?

Now, here she was with the very boy that had held out the proverbial carrot to her for the last three years about a relationship, finally accepting him as nothing but a friend, and getting...

This.

_What was this?_

"Ryoma-kun! What's that supposed to mean? _Are you saying I'm not your friend?_ What does that make me? Your enemy?!" Yes...she was angry. After everything, after all these years, why did he have to say something so hurtful and horrible to her?

Ryoma stopped walking, and so did she. He looked back at her with obvious surprise. Sakuno couldn't tell if he was more shocked that she'd yelled at him, or by her words. She didn't care. She'd take either. So long as he understood that she was mad at him!

"Ryuzaki."

There was a long pause. It was so long Sakuno began to wonder if he'd actually said her name at all. Just as she was about to give up on him answering her, he said, "I like you."

* * *


	4. Chapter Four

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

Sakuno heaved out a breath of relief. She'd been unconsciously covering up her hurt with anger, and hadn't even realized how much Ryoma's words had cut her until he'd corrected her.

She flashed him a big smile, "I like you too, Ryoma-kun."

It was so cute how he was slightly flushed. She couldn't get wrapped up in it though, she'd just like him more and then she'd be forever alone stuck in this one sided love affair she'd had with him the past few years.

Sakuno found herself overwhelmed with the desire to put him at ease seeing his embarrassment after forcing him to confirm their friendship. It meant a lot to her that he had. She knew first hand that saying such words to her must have been very hard on him. After all, Echizen Ryoma was good at many things, but he didn't really do _talking about feelings_.

He must really treasure their friendship after all. If only it could be more than just friendship...

_Pity._

She wrapped her arm through his elbow as they started to walk again, "You're such a good friend, Ryoma-kun. Thanks for leaving school with me today. And...you're right about Yamada-kun. I shouldn't go out with him. Maybe I should just go out with Kawamura-senpai after all."

Ryoma blinked down at Sakuno as she tugged the two of them forward to who knows where.

_Did that seriously just happen again?_

Was he so deep in the friend zone that even a direct confession didn't work? This was going to be a bigger problem than he'd first realized. How was he going to fix this?

Wait.

_Did she just say she was going to go out with with Kawamura-senpai?_

"Why would you do that?"

Sakuno flushed, "I don't know. He's been waiting."

Ryoma wanted to hit something. Kawamura-senpai had been waiting? Waiting for _what_ exactly? When did this happen?

And just what had _he_ been doing the last few years then if it hadn't been _waiting_ for the right time to be with her?

"That's stupid."

She sighed, "Yeah...but I don't know what else to do."

_AGAIN...WHAT ABOUT HIM?_

It was on the tip of his tongue to say something really mean that would spell it all out for her when she withdrew her hand to point at a billboard across the street, "Ryoma-kun! Let's go to the beach today!"

Ryoma looked at the billboard and noticed the white sand beach with crystal clear sparkling blue water. It looked like an advertisement for some beer or something.

_That was totally not what the beaches looked like in Tokyo._

"Sure."

"Yay!"

She was excited. As she practically skipped the rest of the distance towards the train station while going on and on about how much fun the beach would be, Ryoma stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and wondered what it was going to take to get their relationship back on track.

To where it should be.

_Sneaking off to go make out or something..._

He didn't even know how he got into her friend zone, so how was he supposed to get out of it? Nothing seemed to work yet. He thought about just grabbing her and kissing her, but his tongue was still hurt, so that probably wasn't a good idea. He'd told her he liked her, and she'd just eaten it up as if it was merely deepening their friendship bond.

They had no friendship bond! Their bond was completely...what was the word? Hmmm...hmmm...

She patted the seat next to her on the subway line that headed out towards the beach. Ryoma shifted off his tennis bag and set it down on the other side as he took the seat next to her. He stared down at her chest.

_Sexual._

It was very sexual. Not that he didn't enjoy her company, but he enjoyed her company because he liked her... _that way._ She liked him too, he was sure of it, so why was she doing this all of the sudden?

Wait...was she just pushing him away? Was she being coy?

He looked up at her face. She was looking out of the windows, smiling. He could practically see the stars in her eyes over the idea of a day at the beach.

Nope. _Too innocent._

She was just really stupid then. Or something. He didn't know. This was supposed to be an easy transition for them. It was...not...supposed...to be...like this.

About an hour later, the train stopped at their destination. As they arrived at the beach, Sakuno grinned at him before she skipped across the street towards the sand. It seemed as if she didn't even notice how cold it was there at the ocean. After all, it was almost December, so it wasn't exactly beach weather to begin with. The breezes coming off the ocean felt really cold to him. He unzipped his backpack and pulled out his Seigaku regulars jacket. He quickly stuffed his arms into the sleeves to give them some protection from the cold. Slinging his backpack back over his shoulder, he rushed across the street to where Sakuno had disappeared.

As his shoes hit the sand, he caught her small form rushing towards the water. She'd already managed to kick off her shoes she'd bought at the clothing store to go with her dress and dump her school book bag down next to them. It was fine. They were the only people crazy enough to be at the beach that day anyway.

She reached the water and let out a high pitched squeal as the tail end of a wave rolled in and swirled around her bare feet. Ryoma imagined how freezing cold the water must feel and grinned a bit at her bravery of getting her feet wet anyway. He made his way over to her bag and shoes and dropped off his large tennis backpack. He dropped down on the sand and watched Sakuno play at the edge of the water for a while.

There was a lot of boat traffic out on the water. Big cargo ships, freighters, sail boats, speed boats, and even a couple of fishing boats. He enjoyed watching the faster ones zip past them towards the marina, and the slower ones chug along out to sea. After a while, Sakuno began walking back towards him. She was flushed pink from her exertion in the cold air, her long braids were whipping around her face in the wind, and Ryoma didn't think she'd ever looked quite so pretty.

Why? _Why?_ Why did she have to look so great _today_ , when his tongue was injured and she wasn't getting it even when he outrightly confessed?

_It completely sucked!_

The timing was perfect.

They were alone. They were _really_ alone too. Which was so rare, it was almost extinct. They almost _never_ got to be _really_ alone. Someone was always around, or following them, or spying on them, or something. In all the years they'd known each other Ryoma could count on one hand the times they'd really ever had any real privacy together. They were at the beach. If this didn't feel like date, then what would? Although, _silly Sakuno_ probably didn't view it as such, not with the way she'd been talking about them being such _friends_ and all.

_So troublesome._

"Ryoma-kun, don't you want to go to the water too?" She asked as she spun around and landed in the heap of sand right next to him with a slight thump.

Ryoma settled his back into the now warm sand more, "Too cold."

"Ah yeah...it was pretty cold, but I liked it anyway!" She exclaimed happily.

Ryoma watched her out of the sides of his eyes and she reached her arms into the air and stretched them high while yawning.

"I'm a little tired. Maybe I should take a nap?" She mused out loud.

Ryoma shifted his backpack that he'd been leaning his head against a bit towards her and laid left his arm out to the side. Reaching his right arm across his body, he tapped his right hand against the sand, inviting her to use him as a makeshift pillow.

Sakuno needed no further encouragement. Her slight flush from her activity deepened slightly as she scooted against him and laid her head down on his shoulder. His left arm curled up, wrapping around her back.

"Thank you..." She mumbled around another yawn as her eyes drifted closed.

Ryoma pulled his cell phone out of his pants' pocket and set an alarm to go off in half an hour. Even though they were almost covered from head to toe, it wouldn't do to lay out in the sun for too long. Even if it was almost winter and the sun was a little less powerful, they could still get sunburned if they weren't cautious.

He closed his eyes and allowed himself to also drift away into the land of dreams...

...Ryoma woke up to his cell phone alarm going off. It was incessantly vibrating away, alerting him that the time for their brief nap was over. He laid there for a few moments savoring the sound of the crashing waves in the background, and the light puffs of breath from Ryuzaki that were consistently brushing against his cheek. Even the weight of her head laying against his arm was growing on him.

This was more like it...if only she understood like she was supposed to...

He shifted slightly so he was facing her and traced his eyes over her face. She slept away peacefully, completely unaware of her companion observing her. He leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips against hers; realized what he'd done and quickly moved back as she stirred.

Did he really just do... _that?_

Her eyes blinked open, and gazed at him blankly for a moment. She didn't say anything about his stolen kiss which made him worry even more about it. His heart pounded furiously. _He was so caught._ Was that going to be a good thing or a bad thing? Was she going to completely flip out on him now that she was so sure they were nothing but _friends?_

Then she did the very last thing he expected her to do. She pressed her face into his, her lips quickly making contact with his own. His mind panicked as he felt the tip of her tongue against his lower lip and found himself jerking away from her.

"Ryuzaki...my tongue is still hurt," He tried to explain.

She just kissed him. She totally just kissed him! Maybe he was wrong! Maybe she-

She blinked at him blankly. Then her eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her hands, blushing a deep, bright red. From behind her hand she exclaimed, "This is real?! I thought I was just dreaming and I-! Oh...Ryoma-kun...I'm so sorry! Oh, _I'm sooooooooo sorry!"_

She was crying. Tears were streaming down her face as she rose up from the sand quickly and began hastily brushing the loose sand off of her dress. She grabbed for her shoes and her book bag and ran away from him before Ryoma even realized what was happening. As she rushed off, he swiftly jumped to his feet and grabbed his backpack, running after her.

"Ryuzaki!"

* * *

 


	5. Chapter Five

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

"Ryuzaki!" He called out again as he held onto his backpack tightly so he wouldn't lose it, and sped after the crying girl running away from him.

She didn't pause or look back, but seemed to pick up her pace at his calls.

Ryoma ground his teeth with irritation at her ditching him, but determined to catch her as quickly as possible. His heart was pounding out of his chest, and _it hurt._ His mind was spinning with a million different worst case scenarios. This need to be remedied... _fast._

They both found themselves in the chase of their lives.

Sakuno was running away from him faster than she'd ever moved in her entire life. Usually, she would have at least tripped on something by now, but somehow the adrenaline rush brought on by the survival of her emotions was pushing her forward. She was moving faster, and more precisely than she'd ever moved before. Maybe all those tennis lessons each week with Ryoma-kun for the last three and a half years were finally paying off?

Ryoma flew after her at an almost reckless pace. He narrowly missed crashing into several objects on the sidewalks as he raced after Sakuno's suddenly swift and graceful form. He fumed over her uncanny impromptu gracefulness. She wasn't even wearing shoes! Of all the times for her to stop being clumsy and wobbly...why did it have to be right at that moment?

That moment when everything they'd ever known about each other had just gone belly up and changed on them.

Sakuno really gave it her all, but Ryoma's vastly superior athleticism won out in the end. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and swung her into a spin, forcing them both to stop their forward momentum. Her long braids whipped around them, slapping against his jacket and her sweater before swinging to a stop.

Tears were still streaming down her face as they faced each other and Ryoma stuck his injured tongue out of his mouth.

Taken aback, Sakuno pushed away from him. _What was he doing?_

He tightened his left arm around her small waist, and pulled her up against himself as he pointed to the tip of his tongue with his right hand.

Sakuno blinked up at him with confusion. Her tears drying up with the absurdity of it all.

Ryoma closed his mouth and his lips twitched for a moment. Then he asked, "Do you see how bad I hurt it this morning?"

Sakuno shook her head back and forth. Despite his efforts, she really hadn't wanted to look at his tongue. It seemed too...

He stuck his tongue out again. This time, instead of recoiling, she tilted her head up and looked closely, almost instantly spotting the swollen red bite marks marring the end of it.

"Ouch," She breathed out softly.

Ryoma rolled his eyes as he closed his mouth again. He didn't think he'd ever felt like such an idiot. Standing there on the sidewalk with this crazy girl in his arms, sticking his tongue out at her. They must look utterly ridiculous to passers-by.

Especially since she was still barefoot. "Put your shoes on," He instructed gruffly.

She blinked up at him before he heard her shoes hit the pavement. She wiggled around for a moment as she stuffed her feet into her shoes. He kept his arm around her waist, irrationally worried that she would run off on him again if he let go.

"After-"

"I'm-"

They both stopped, waiting for the other person to start whatever they were going to say again.

Finally, Sakuno tried again, "I'm sorry. I was sleeping, and I didn't know...and then...it's just that... _it's my first time."_

Ryoma almost missed the last part, she said it so quietly. Oh no. He could feel his face heating up. He pretty much never blushed, and he didn't have his hat to cover it up, and...

He cleared his throat before muttering, "Me too."

Sakuno began giggling uncontrollably before she asked amusedly, "Ryoma-kun hasn't been attacked by some girl before me?"

He smirked at her good spirits as he shook his head. Then he dropped his mouth down to her ear and said, "If my tongue wasn't hurt, I would have let you-"

He was cut short as Sakuno let out a screech of protest. She smacked his chest and said around another fit of giggles, "Don't tease me about it, Ryoma-kun! I'll die of embarrassment and then I'll _never_ be able to kiss anybody ever again!"

"Hmm...can't have that. I suppose we'll have to practice when my tongue gets better."

She burst out laughing again, her face flaming into a bright red hue.

He tapped the injured tip of his tongue with his finger, "Hnn...probably a couple of days?"

Sakuno was shaking her head as she continued to giggle and blush. Her hands covered her cheeks as tears of laughter sprang from her eyes. Ryoma decided he very much enjoyed entertaining her. He was just relieved that she was still talking to him. His mind had conjured up so many disaster scenarios for most likely outcome as he'd been chasing after her that he could barely believe that he'd somehow been able to salvage things.

It was a shame she didn't seem to really understand him when he said more kissing was on the table. _He was so not joking._

Apparently, getting out of the friend zone was harder than he could have ever fathomed.

She dropped her head into his chest, hiding her flushed face from him, trying to calm down a bit from the whole experience. Somehow feeling more at ease in his company than she thought she'd ever felt before. Which was so odd, given everything that had happened that day...but it was what it was. His cool acceptance of everything made him so easy to be around.

"Want to grab something to eat before we get back on the train?" He asked as he began to loosen his grip around her waist, finally feeling secure that she wasn't going to run off on him again.

She nodded, moving his shirt up and down on his chest. He stepped back, finally releasing her completely. She looked up at him and blushed again before looking away, still feeling embarrassed that she'd just kissed him. At least he hadn't minded terribly...and oh...if there wasn't this little part of her that was secretly rejoicing that her first kiss had been with her first love. Even if he'd pushed her away and then blamed his tongue, it was still...in it's own odd way sweetly memorable.

They wandered the streets there for a little while before finally deciding to eat at a ramen shop. After sitting down and placing their orders, Ryoma said, "Oh...my parents want you to come visit."

Sakuno smiled, "It has been a while since I saw them. How are they? How's Nanako-san doing?"

One corner of Ryoma's mouth tilted down before he replied, "Nanako graduated university and moved out not long after when she got a job. My old man is more obnoxious. My mom is the same."

"Ah, Nanako-san moved out? Oh, that's too bad! I would have liked to see her too." Then she burst into giggles, "Does Uncle still think we're...you know?"

Ryoma smirked, "A couple?"

She nodded as a slight flush graced her cheeks.

That was...encouraging...

"He told me to bring you over because I should show my girlfriend off to my parents," He deadpanned.

Sakuno shook her head back and forth as she said, "Maybe I shouldn't go."

Ryoma fought back a frown, "You should definitely come."

"What? Why? Isn't it causing problems for you?"

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, "It would be a problem if you didn't come."

"I don't understand. I mean...what are you going to do when you like somebody?"

"I like you."

Sakuno rolled her eyes as her flush deepened, "Ryoma-kun! You know what I mean! What will happen when you _really_ get a girlfriend?"

"And you obviously don't know what I mean," He muttered under his breath in English.

"Nothing will change," He replied louder, switching back to Japanese. He almost sounded bored with the topic.

Sakuno smirked at him, "Oh yes, I forgot...Ryoma-kun loves me so much. That's why we've been dating since middle school."

Ryoma opened his mouth to agree with her, hoping it would slap the sarcasm out of her. Instead, he was interrupted as their waiter arrived with two large steaming bowls of ramen.

They both quickly dug into their food, neither of them having realized how hungry they were from not having lunch at their normal time until they smelled the food. Their conversation was quickly forgotten to the more pressing matter at hand, that is...feeding their empty stomachs.

"Ramen is sooo good. We should have it more often," Sakuno moaned as her remaining noodles finally started to dwindle.

Ryoma chewed on his soy egg for a moment before he said, "We don't have a local ramen shop."

Sakuno blinked. _They didn't?_ Was that why she never got to eat restaurant ramen? "Oh, but there must be one somewhere, we should look when we get home."

"So we can go there on dates?" Ryoma asked, hopeful once again that she'd get with the program.

Sakuno kicked the toe of her shoe against Ryoma's sneaker, "Ryoma-kun! You really need to stop."

He frowned, "It never bothered you before."

Sakuno gave him an odd look, "You weren't the one saying it before."

He shrugged, "Does it matter?"

Sakuno looked out of the window, and gazed at the small little beachfront businesses across the street. Ryoma watched as she contemplated, wondering just what was going on inside that mind of hers. Finally she shrugged as she looked back at him, "I guess it doesn't."

Their waiter set down their bill, and the two quickly engaged in a mini game of tug-of-war on who would look at it.

"It was my idea to come here, I'll pay," Sakuno said as she pulled at the tray.

"You always forget your money, Ryuzaki," Ryoma rebutted as he pulled the tray back towards him.

"I do not!" She protested as she pulled it towards her again.

Their fingers were starting to turn white from the pressure of holding onto the small edges of the tray, Ryoma pushed it towards her and then quickly yanked it back towards himself. He caught her off guard, and the tray slipped out of her grip.

"Mou!"

"So ungrateful," He muttered.

Feeling chastised at his grumbling, she quickly thanked him.

He smirked.

They left the restaurant, and headed for the subway that led away from the beach area and back home to the inner city. Sakuno mused out loud that it was too bad the train took an hour, otherwise they could have stayed longer, and mid-sentence, Ryoma's head dropped on her shoulder.

She looked down at him from the sides of her eyes.

He was sleeping... _again._

That Ryoma-kun...if he wasn't playing tennis, he was sleeping.

* * *


	6. Chapter Six

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

As their train continued sliding across the rails back towards the inner city, Sakuno pulled her cell phone out and shot off a quick email to her best friend forever, Osakada Tomoka. She ruminated for a while on what to say, and held back even more than she probably normally would have since Ryoma's head was resting on her shoulder. _For all she knew, he could be sneakily reading her message._

Yeah...probability of that was incredibly low; even if he wasn't sleeping, and she _showed_ him her phone he still probably wouldn't be interested enough to actually read it. Though... _on that less than one percent off chance_...she figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Finally she settled on keeping it simple:

_I skipped school today with Ryoma-kun and went to the beach. -S_

Her phone blipped back at her what seemed like only seconds after she sent her message:

_SHUT UP! You didn't! How did you do that with Ryoma-sama? I'm so jealous! YOU MUST TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT! -T_

Sakuno bit her lower lip to hold back a giggle at her friend's reply since she didn't want to wake up Ryoma-kun. Tomo-chan was always so much fun. She was a little surprised at how quickly she replied though, considering that school was still in session.

_Why are you looking at your phone during class? :P I'll call you later. -S_

Of course, as soon as she sent her message, her phone beeped back at her in less than a minute.

_BECAUSE my BFF didn't come to school today and neither did The Prince! Though I wasn't expecting something nearly so juicy! You better tell me everything and I mean everything! -T_

Everything. What a loaded word.

Reminded of her day, Sakuno starting thinking about everything that had happened. She felt the familiar feeling of her cheeks warming up as she remembered kissing Ryoma-kun, and how he'd chased her down to show her his injured tongue. Even though it was injured, looking at it had made her feel so...wanton. After everything, all she'd really been able to think of as he'd stood there moving his tongue around to show her where he'd bit down on it was how much she wanted to suck on it and see how good he tasted when she got a good taste of all of him. After all, even if she had zero experience in kissing, she was sure Ryoma-kun would taste better than heaven itself.

She had mistakenly thought she had done fairly well at getting over her apparent one-sided love of him the past couple of months. That is, after her big realization that he simply wasn't interested in anything except for tennis. Then in a half asleep dreamy haze she'd lived out one of her ultimate fantasies. It hadn't gone down the way her fantasies did, no, not with him jerking away from her and then gruffly telling her his tongue was injured.

Oh but...there was something to be said about reality. Delicious, delicious reality. She could _swear_ she could still feel and taste the small wet tip of his tongue she had gotten as she'd started to press her tongue into his mouth. He had tasted like everything wonderful in the world. It made her heart sing out with an ecstatic joyfulness just thinking about it.

_That level of excitement over the merest taste...well...it should be illegal._

She wanted to kiss him again so badly. She wanted to taste him so desperately. Him sticking his tongue out at her had been almost too much to bear. Oh and if she'd gone with her insatiable impulse to kiss him then, he probably would have never talked to her again. Writing her off as some dirty, _dirty,_ _naughty_ girl with nothing but _dirty sexual thoughts about him._ Not to mention it was only a few minutes after he'd just pushed her away because of his injured tongue. Imagine what he'd think if she'd tried to kiss him again!

Maybe it would have been worth it though. To taste...

_Oh, she was such a deviant._

If it wasn't so deliciously sexy, she would be wallowing in extreme self deprecation right about now. Instead, all she really wanted to do was plot someway, somehow, that someday, she could finish out that fantasy. That sometime in the future, she would have him. She would have him, and taste him, maybe even be so bold as to run her fingertips across his abs, or rub her hands along his strong biceps, feeling them flex underneath her fingers as they wrapped around as much of his arms as they could.

It would be... _so hot._

Of course, that would never happen. Especially not now that she'd blown her one get out of jail free card that one is extended when crossing the border between friends and lovers when the interest isn't mutual. Even thinking about or attempting anything with him at this point would only spell out disaster.

He would simply never speak to her again.

No matter how surprisingly sweet and understanding he'd been about the whole thing. She knew the truth. He didn't see her _that way._ He may acknowledge that she was a girl, even his body seemed to know she was a girl, but he was far from being in love with her. Moving past their friendly relationship into anything else would only have one eventual result.

She would be heartbroken, and on top of that, their friendship would be over.

At least with the way things were now, she was a part of his life. She was able to enjoy his presence. She had the ability to freely enjoy watching him as he glided effortlessly and fantastically through life from within his very small inner circle.

As far as she was concerned, he was practically godlike. He shone like the sun, he was good at absolutely everything. He was devastatingly good-looking, and as he matured, even more so. Being around him was addicting and fantastic, and everything in the world that was wonderful.

She just couldn't give that up. No matter how sensational it would be to _really_ feel him. To feel him _that way_...as far as she was able to get him to go _that way_ before he would shove her away violently, or go all the way, and then shun her publicly afterwards.

It simply wouldn't do...

She really should _NOT_ be thinking about _having hot dirty sex_ with the guy that was currently pressed into her side. In a moment of pure insanity she worried he could read her impure thoughts. Her mind whirled around in a panic for a few seconds, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Then, magically, she calmed down and quickly dismissed the paranoia for what it was.

Great. He was _literally_ making her crazy now.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused all of her mental energy on NOT thinking about the drop dead gorgeous half boy half man that was resting his head on her shoulder for the rest of the ride back to their local station.

Just before arriving, Sakuno shook Ryoma awake. He lifted his head up and gave a groggy look at the windows across the subway from them, watching the walls of the underground tube whiz past them.

"Are we home?" He asked, his voice came out slightly hoarse, and thick. Hmm...he was thirsty.

"Yes," Sakuno replied as she stood up. The train momentum pulled to a halt, and he watched as Sakuno's body swayed against the inertia.

As the subway car's doors slid open, he fluidly grabbed his backpack, hefted it up onto his shoulder and stepped off of the train car behind the girl with the long twin braids.

He pulled his cell phone out, noticed about twenty or so missed calls, most of them from Horio, Kikumaru-senpai, and Momo-senpai.

_Che...busybodies._

Then he remembered why he'd pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time. School was almost out. They had planned their day out pretty well after all. Spotting a vending machine across the way on the platform, he casually walked over to it and deposited enough coins to purchase a couple of Pontas. He handed one to Ryuzaki, who effortlessly seemed to remain by his side without annoying him to death. Then he cracked open the tab on his, took a big chug of the cold drink, and instantly felt more alert.

"Let's go," He said as he started towards the stairs to head back up to the street level.

It wasn't a far walk to get back to Sakuno's house. As usual when he walked her home everyday, they ambled along in companionable silence. Ryoma was trying to come up with some excuse to tell his mother on why he missed school that day, and Sakuno was still very busily trying to think about anything and everything except for the one thing that her mind wanted to think about.

The person walking right next to her.

Reaching her door, Sakuno put her key in and unlocked her house. As she turned to walk inside, Ryoma shoved his empty can into her free hand, "Toss it for me."

"Sure," She replied as she moved into the house, kicking her shoes off.

She left the door open, and Ryoma took that as an invitation to come inside. It was good, after all, since he couldn't really go home at least until after practice time was over.

He closed the door, kicked his shoes off and dropped his backpack on the floor in the entry before following Sakuno into the kitchen. She had already disposed of his empty Ponta can since it was nowhere in sight. He couldn't even see most of her, since she was standing behind the open refrigerator door. He watched her little toes as they curled under her feet, while she stood there barefoot. He wondered why she hadn't put her house slippers on. After all, it was cold. Her feet were going to freeze.

She closed the refrigerator door and handed him another cold Ponta.

He gifted her with a rare smile before he cracked open the can and took a few sips.

"So, when do you want me to come over to see your parents?" She asked.

Ryoma thought about it for a minute, before asking, "Friday?"

"Okay."

"You can just come home with me after practice," He added.

"Sounds easy enough. Talk to your parents and let me know for sure tomorrow. Should I have Grandma come too?"

Ryoma considered the benefits of having his old coach visit as well, namely that she would entertain his parents. It would keep his father from being too overly obnoxious, since Coach Ryuzaki had always been good about keeping him in line. Maybe then they could...

"Tell her to come," Ryoma instructed.

"Okay, I'll ask her about it."

Unable to help it anymore, he finally blurted, "Why aren't you wearing your slippers?"

Sakuno looked down at her bare feet and wiggled her toes around, "I have sand in my toes."

"Oh."

"You're right. I should wash them off instead of dragging sand all through the house," Sakuno added. She began walking towards the living room, so Ryoma followed behind her.

She pointed towards the couch and said, "Watch something on the TV if you want, I'm going to rinse my feet off, I'll be right back."

Ryoma slumped onto the sofa and grabbed for the remote. Taking another sip of Ponta, he began flipping through the channels. He still had about half an hour before practice would be over, but he couldn't help but to glance towards the entryway every few minutes. If Coach Ryuzaki came home and found him sitting on her couch all alone, it would be _a little_ weird.


	7. Chapter Seven

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Seven

* * *

Ryoma's old middle school tennis coach did not come home to find him sitting alone on her couch. Instead, it was the coach's granddaughter that returned to him as promised.

_She'd done more than just wash her feet though._

Her hair was down, and _wet._ So she must have taken a bath to wash it...and she was wearing _pajamas_. Pajamas with a kitty cat pattern on them that looked _strangely_ like his own kitty, Karupin.

She was _baiting_ him. She had to be. Why else would she come out with long wet hair and little Karupins all over her body? Again...why did he have to hurt his tongue today?

"Oh, Ryoma-kun! I'm sorry I took so long. I thought you would have left to go home," She said instead. She flushed slightly and awkwardly covered her arms over her chest.

Ryoma ground his teeth. Here he was...like an idiot sitting around waiting for her to wash the sand off of her feet. Instead, she comes out of a _bath_...looking good enough to eat, and has the audacity to tell him he should have _gone home?_

The young woman did not wait for a response. She knew better than anybody that Ryoma wasn't a very vocal person. Without missing a beat, she slouched down onto the couch herself, on the opposite end from the tennis prince, and began combing her fingers through her long, wet strands of hair, in the hopes of promoting them to dry quicker.

Ryoma observed Sakuno from the other end of the couch through slitted eyes. He watched as she combed through the long wet strands of her hair. It was so... _domestic._ Ryuzaki sitting there wearing pajamas, with wet hair while they watched the TV.

_Next she was going to offer to cook dinner...heh..._

If they were really going to be all domestic, he had _much better_ ideas. Like crawling across the couch to her and taking those pajamas off. Then licking and kissing his way across her still pink flesh from her hot bath until she squirmed underneath him, panting. He would grab the edge of her panties with his teeth, and yank them off of her. She would be begging him to take her, whispering his name like a mantra, _Ryoma...Ryoma...Ryoma..._

"Ryoma-kun?" Snapped out of his fantasy, Ryoma's eyes shifted up from Sakuno's legs back to her face.

"Hn," He grunted. She just caught him fantasizing again. _Great_. He shifted slightly, trying to feel more comfortable sitting there on the couch now that he'd gone and...

Well, maybe she wouldn't care after all, right? She had kissed him earlier, hadn't she? She also hadn't screamed at him and pushed him away when he'd thrust into her in the dressing room. Hmmm...now that he was thinking about it... _that_ had definite promise. Friend zone? No problem. He could completely overcome this friend zone thing.

"Are you going to stay for dinner?" She asked.

Dinner. He knew it.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the time, surprised at how late it was. It must be well past dark outside. It's a wonder his parents hadn't called yet!

"Oh."

"You didn't know it was so late, did you, Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno teased at his expression.

He looked back towards the entryway and frowned, "Where's Coach?"

"Oh, Grandma? She doesn't come home until late because she's helping out with this-"

"It's normal for you to be home alone like this?" He interrupted.

Sakuno nodded her head.

That was...worrisome. A girl like her all alone like this most of the time? When it was so dark outside...and she was wandering around the house looking like _that?_ Maybe it was time to rethink the walking her home routine and change it to something with more...

_Domestication._

Now that was a yummy thought in more ways than one. So long as the Coach never came home to find her previous Captain laying on top of her granddaughter...

Involuntarily, Ryoma flinched.

"Is something wrong?" Sakuno asked, as she scooted across the couch to his side.

Oh no. She was coming over there...oh...he could smell her shampoo or her soap or whatever it was now.

As Sakuno came within about a foot of Ryoma, his left arm snapped out, and his hand ran through her wet hair.

"Ano..." She flushed slightly, but didn't move away.

Ryoma's face inched closer as he whispered, "I don't think I've ever seen you with your hair down."

He watched as her flush increased before she stammered, "Erm...oh. Uh...huh...um...really?"

"Really."

Her eyes shifted to look away from him, and she stared at the floor for a moment before she suddenly jumped up from the couch, "Well, if you're staying for dinner, what would you like me to make? Grandma was talking about curry this morning, but I can make something else if you want it."

She was blabbering, she knew she was...but she somehow couldn't seem to stop. It was either blabber, or jump on Ryoma-kun.

As annoying as it probably was, she assumed it was the lesser of the two evils. Especially considering how she had already practically jumped on him earlier in the day, and he'd pulled away from her as if she was on fire.

She ran into the kitchen and started removing ingredients from the refrigerator and the cupboards feeling slightly crazy and needing to do _something_.

"Hey."

She looked over towards the kitchen doorway where the tennis prince was. He was leaning against the doorframe with one hand in his pocket. Seeing he had her attention, he said, "Curry sounds good."

"Oh."

That was when it hit her.

They were acting like a couple...that lived together...

_Woah._

Her whole body started tingling and her heart started beating out of her chest as she was suddenly overcome with a long time recurring fantasy of the two of them as newlyweds. She opened her mouth to try to control her breathing since it simply wouldn't do to have Ryoma-kun hear her panting.

It was the worst...knowing he didn't see her like that. No...he sure didn't. In fact, _Ryoma-kun probably just saw it as an opportunity to eat._

He moved into the kitchen and approached her. Sakuno continued to try to suppress her excitement as she fumbled with the various cooking items on the countertop. He stopped a few inches away from her, and Sakuno looked up at him wondering why he'd come so close while she was cooking.

One of the corners of his mouth dropped down to the side, before he said, "I wish I could stay."

"Oh!" Surprised to hear that he wasn't staying after all, Sakuno turned away from the counter towards Ryoma. Walking around him she said, "Sorry for keeping you so long Ryoma-kun, I'm sure you have a lot to do at home so..."

She trailed off as they reached her front door. She watched as Ryoma slid off the houseguest slippers and put his sneakers back on. He lifted up his backpack and swung it over one shoulder. With his hand on the doorknob he turned back towards her and muttered something under his breath that was too low for her to understand. Then before Sakuno knew what was happening, he dipped his head down and brushed his lips against hers.

Her eyes widened as he turned the doorknob and exited the house without so much as another word, or a wink, or a wave, or anything.

Sakuno stood in her entryway blushing a pretty pink with her hands against her lips, as if to keep the slight brush of Ryoma's lips from leaving.

_What just happened?_

Did Ryoma-kun really just kiss her goodnight?

_Why would he do that?_

Like a zombie, Sakuno went through the motions of life the rest of her evening. She cooked dinner, greeted her grandmother when she came home. Ate dinner with her grandmother. Did her homework.

Once she was finally settled in bed, her thoughts raced. They raced all night long wondering over all the events of the day. Wondering what was going on with the tennis prince that was only ever really interested in tennis.

He definitely didn't like her. _There was just no way that he liked her...right?_ Ryoma-kun was only interested in tennis. He'd outrightly ignored her when Kawamura-senpai had asked her out. He ignored how Yamada-kun had flirted with her right in front of him in the store. If he liked her...he would have at least _noticed_...right?

So why would he do _that?_ Was it some weird... _thing_...he learned as a kid in America? They had some weird customs...like kissing and things...right? Was it really okay to just kiss your friends like that though? If it was...why hadn't he ever done that before? Was that why he'd been so nice about her attacking him with her tongue when she'd first woken up on the beach? Was there going to be more of those soft brushes of his lips against hers in the future?

She was just going to have to ask him. That was all there was too it. She'd be a nervous wreck around him if she didn't know what to expect.

* * *

Ryoma on the other hand enjoyed his evening very much. He kept recalling to mind the vision of Ryuzaki Sakuno hanging around in her house with her hair down and wet. Wearing nothing but pajamas with little Himalayan kitty cats all over them. Wanting to cook dinner for him. The feeling of her soft lips when he'd brushed his own against them.

He had a chat with his parents about how he had some "special" practice starting the next day so he'd be home later, and not to worry about him...or his dinner.

He spent extra time in the bathroom after his bath, checking the marks on his tongue, trying to figure out how long it would be before it was fully healed. Another day? Another two days? Was there anything he could do to speed up its recovery?

He was pretty sure the goodnight kiss had finally conveyed the message he'd been trying to tell his future girlfriend about all day, so the next morning he was feeling confident about finally being out of the friend zone.

Ryuzaki would only see him as a man now.

He would take her home every night...make out for a while...have dinner with her...sneak off before the Coach got home...

It was going to be awesome.

If only he'd known sooner that Ryuzaki was home alone all this time. Forget all these fantasies. He could have been getting busy making them realities!


	8. Chapter Eight

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Eight

* * *

The next day at school, Ryoma was once again baffled at Sakuno's insistence on keeping him in the friend zone. She greeted him the same as she did every other morning as he'd plopped his stuff down at his desk catty-corner to hers.

_Why wasn't she blushing at least? He'd totally kissed her last night!_

"Did you talk to your parents about Friday?" She asked.

He gave a nod before asking, "What did the coach say?"

"Oh, she's very excited because it's been awhile since we've been over to your house."

"Hn."

_Damn. What was he supposed to do?_

During lunch, it was also the same. He was kind-of expecting her to bring him a homemade bento, you know...thinking they were together now that she was his girlfriend. But no...he was obviously still in the friend zone since same as most days, she happily waved him off as he headed towards the roof to take a nap while she had a girl-talk session over her own bento with her loud friend Osakada.

The only bright side had been hearing her convey to her friend that she "...wasn't interested in Yamada-kun after all..." As he'd walked away from the friends towards the classroom door.

It was after school however, that Echizen Ryoma was _very displeased_ to find his previous teammate Kawamura Takashi hanging out on the benches outside of the tennis court with Ryuzaki Sakuno.

The two were sitting side by side talking, which was bad enough. _Then_ she started laughing, and he suddenly had an urge to kill his former senpai.

_She should not ever look so delighted by Kawamura's company._

Or anybody's company besides his own for that matter. Ryoma's eyes thinned into suspicious slits for a fraction of a second. Then, looking as cool and unfazed as ever, he made his way over to them.

"Oh, hi Ryoma-kun," Sakuno greeted as he approached.

Ryoma tapped his tennis racquet on his shoulder for a second and then swept his hat off of his head with his right hand. Just as quickly, he dropped it on Sakuno's head.

"Oh!" She exclaimed upon it's soft impact with her hair.

Not skipping a beat, Ryoma dropped his backpack unceremoniously on the floor at her feet.

"Ah..." She began, but trailed off as Ryoma handed her his tennis racquet.

Now feeling completely confused as to what in the world was happening, Sakuno watched with a kind of fascination as Ryoma pulled his Seigaku regulars jacket off and then proceeded to drape it around her shoulders. After that, he took his racquet back from her, paused for a moment to look blankly at his previous senpai still sitting at her side, turned around and headed into the courts.

"Wha-?" Sakuno said to nobody in particular. It simply escaped her lips in her utter bafflement.

"Sakuno-chan...are you seeing Echizen now?" Kawamura asked hesitantly.

Suddenly, it all came back to her...the conversation she'd had with Ryoma-kun just yesterday about Kawamura-senpai waiting to date her and how Ryoma-kun thought that was a stupid reason to date somebody. Oh! _He must be helping her!_ Kawamura-senpai would obviously back down if he thought she was with Ryoma-kun! Half the people they knew thought they were dating anyway, so it was perfect for Ryoma-kun to pretend to be her boyfriend to help her get out of such an awkward situation! He was such a good friend! How thoughtful of him! She was going to have to make him a special thank you bento tomorrow.

Sakuno sent a smile towards Ryoma's back at her realization before turning to look over at her previous upperclassman.

"Well, you see-"

"Ne...Kawamura. Let's have a match," Ryoma called from the court, effectively interrupting Sakuno's floundering explanation.

Sakuno's head turned away from Kawamura and back towards the court where the tennis team had all finally gathered together.

Momoshiro was practically singing about "young love" while Kaidoh kept yelling at him to "shut up." Kikumaru was doing this odd little jig while Oishi tried unsuccessfully to calm him down. Tezuka was giving an interested look towards Kawamura, probably waiting to see if he would go ahead and take up Ryoma's challenge. Inui was, of course, scribbling away in his trusty databook, and Fuji was making his way over to where Kawamura and Sakuno were sitting.

Holding out his own tennis racquet to his former teammate Fuji said, "Here Taka-san, go play with Echizen."

"BURNING!" Kawamura exclaimed as soon as the tennis racquet was placed into his hand.

Sakuno tried to scoot away from Kawamura as he stood up and began to swing Fuji's racquet around in big sweeping loops of enthusiasm.

"Ano...Kawamura-senpai..." She made an attempt at protesting, but it came out too quiet for the older boy to hear her over his enthusiastic yelling.

"Ne...stop scaring Ryuzaki and get over here," Ryoma said loudly, interrupting another round of "BURNING!"

It was obvious from Ryoma's first service that he was trying to kill Kawamura on the tennis court that afternoon. The whole team stopped practicing in order to watch the match, and they huddled around Sakuno who awkwardly sat there with Ryoma's hat on, with Ryoma's jacket on, and with Ryoma's backpack settled at her feet. Thankfully, they were too engrossed in the match and commenting on it to pay too much attention to the weirdness that was their previous coach's granddaughter smothered in their freshman prodigy's belongings.

Naturally, Ryoma won by best of two sets. As it was that Kawamura wasn't actively participating in tennis anymore, and Ryoma had only continued to improve over the last few years since his previous senpai had to quit. Kawamura's strength as a power hitter which would have been quite a challenge to Ryoma in the past was easily overcome now that Ryoma was just as big and strong, if not stronger now than Kawamura seeing as how he was no longer the "chibi" of the team. Not that it stopped the team from calling him O-chibi, it just wasn't physically true anymore.

Kawamura was stretching his sore unused muscles in his arms after Fuji had fetched his racquet back from him, but he seemed in good spirits over being able to play a tennis match. Ryoma had a very self satisfied smirk while he gazed towards where Sakuno sat on the benches, still all decked out in everything... _his._

The satisfaction...it was there...now he just needed to get _her_ to understand.

"Finally making the moves on your girlfriend?" Momoshiro said as he stopped next to where Ryoma was standing. He crossed his arms and nudged at Ryoma with his elbow knowingly.

Ryoma scoffed.

"What? Everything isn't perfect in Ryuzaki-chan loves Echizen land?" Momoshiro teased.

Ryoma looked at Momoshiro from the corners of his hazel eyes before looking back towards Sakuno. With a wry smirk adorning his face he asked, "Ne...Momo-senpai...wanna see something really amazing?"

Momoshiro's eyes predictably widened with excitement, "Hell yeah I do."

Ryoma began to saunter over to where Sakuno was still seated, having been abandoned by the rest of the team to head to the locker room to shower and change back into their school uniforms. Even Kawamura had headed towards the team room to take a warm shower to ease the pain in his muscles.

Momoshiro quickly followed behind Ryoma, his mind racing with all sorts of possibilities of what the tennis prince meant by "amazing" when referring to their former coach's granddaughter.

Ryoma stopped as he reached the bench Sakuno was sitting on, "Oi."

Sakuno gave him a calm smile, "Don't you want to change before we head home?"

"Ryuzaki...I like you."

Momoshiro's mouth dropped open. _He was pretty sure he just had the shock of his life!_ Echizen! _CONFESSING!_ To RYUZAKI-CHAN! He never thought he would _literally_ see it! Not with how private Echizen was.

Sakuno giggled as she waved her hand up and down, "Yes, yes, Ryoma-kun I know, I know. I get it already. You're _really_ a good friend and I like you too. Mou...you really _don't need_ to keep telling me. Oh and... _thank you for today._ Oh! Momo-senpai! I like you too, you know. It's so nice to have such good friends. I'm so happy we're all at school together again."

Momoshiro _almost_ fell over.

Then he burst out laughing his ass off.

Sakuno nervously giggled along with a confused look on her face, not really sure what exactly was so funny, but unable to help herself from laughing along with her senpai laughing away like that. Even Ryoma snickered a bit before he turned towards Momoshiro and flatly said, "Amazing."

"BWHAHAAHA! Yes, Echizen! Amazing," Momoshiro agreed.

"Wait for me," Ryoma said to Sakuno before he left to head to the team's room to shower and change himself. A still laughing hysterically Momoshiro following behind him.

After showering, Momoshiro had calmed down a bit, though he was still prone to small bursts of laughter here and there. As Ryoma tied his shoes back on Momoshiro sat down next to him on the bench, "Ne...Echizen. You're in the friend zone."

Ryoma rolled his eyes, "I know."

"What are you going to do about that?" Momoshiro asked, barely containing himself from laughing about it yet again. _It was really too funny._

Ryoma shrugged, "I don't know. I've already tried a few things, but..."

Momoshiro scuffed up his kohai's hair as he said, "You need to tell her it's not like that."

"I know, but how?" Ryoma grumbled as he quickly tied his other shoe. He stood up and quickly brushed his fingers through his hair, trying to calm it back down from whatever his senpai had done to mess it up.

Momoshiro shrugged, "Why don't you just leave a note in her locker?"

Ryoma's eyes widened.

Why hadn't he thought of that? It was so simple! He could be really clear! Then this whole friend zone mess could be well and over with.

"Thanks senpai," He muttered before he grabbed his racquet, spun it around and ran out of the team room, towards the school shoe lockers.

It was easy to find Ryuzaki's locker because he'd purposely chosen the one right next to it. It was how he was able to make sure nobody else was making the moves on his woman over the years. He rummaged through his pants' pocket and was happy to produce a scrap of paper and a pen.

He quickly scribbled away on the paper, and then promptly stuffed it into Sakuno's locker.

There! Now Ryuzaki would see his note in the morning and boom! Relationship officially started.

It was a flawless plan.

* * *


	9. Nine

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

* * *

With his love letter deed completed, Ryoma made his way back to the tennis courts to retrieve his future girlfriend. Yes. His future girlfriend, because tomorrow morning...everything would be clear. His tongue would probably be better too, which meant...

Sakuno stood up at his approach, her hands grasping on to the edges of his jacket so it wouldn't slip off of her shoulders.

It really was too big for her. It was kind-of... _cute._ Maybe he should put his jacket on her more often.

He watched her turn around to retrieve her belongings, and saw his name etched across her bottom where it had been written in just above the waistband and decided he _definitely_ needed to have her wear his jacket more often. It was simply too satisfying to see her marked as _his_. It would also hopefully keep any others like Kawamura-senpai or this Yamada guy away from her. Heh... _worth it._

"Ready, Ryoma-kun? Oh...what happened to Momo-senpai? He's not coming home with us?" Sakuno asked as Ryoma got within hearing distance.

She was handing him his backpack. Ryoma reached out to take it from her, purposely brushing his fingers against hers. She didn't even blink, let alone blush.

_Sooooo irritating._

Unzipping his backpack, he stuffed his racquet inside and then zipped it back up, "Momo-senpai probably left already."

"Oh. I just thought..."

"Nah, we'll do burgers with him another day."

"Oh, okay then," She replied as she began to slip one side of his jacket off of her shoulder.

Ryoma's hand shot out and stopped her from removing his jacket any further. Before either of them could even process it, Ryoma had somehow managed to get her to stuff her arms into the big sleeves so that she was wearing it properly. As the task was completed, the two of them stood there looking at each other with confused expressions for a prolonged moment.

"Don't get cold," Ryoma finally said more gruffly than he intended to.

Sakuno had the decency to at least blush a bit that time before she said, "Ryoma-kun is really taking care of me today."

"Hn."

_She had no idea._

Before he could stop her, she took his hat off and handed it over to him. Then she retrieved her school bag, and slung it over one shoulder. Ryoma felt slightly grouchy as he took his hat from her and stuffed it into his backpack, quickly zipping it away with his racquets. He turned and began walking towards the gate, but paused for a moment for Sakuno to catch up with him before continuing on.

They walked along in silence for a few blocks before Sakuno suddenly blurted out, "Why did you kiss me last night?"

Ryoma was caught so off guard, he _almost_ tripped. After the way she'd been acting all day, he really didn't think she would bring it up. As the day had progressed, a part of him had even started wondering if it had really happened, or if his fantasies had taken on a new level of interfering with his life to the point he thought they were real. Playing it cool, he continued forward trying to look undaunted as his heart started pounding out of his chest.

 _Maybe it was time now._ Maybe she really did understand now. Maybe his love letter would be pointless, and in the morning they would just laugh over it before she would blush and then they would go sneak off and he would wrap her up in his arms before dropping his lips into her neck and...

"Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno asked.

Ryoma shook his head to get rid of the fantasy his mind had quickly jumped right into.

_Slow down...he needed to get out of this damn friend zone first._

He considered simply confessing again, but he'd just told her less than an hour ago that he liked her, and she'd just brushed it off as a friendship bond yet again. So should he say something else? What would he possibly say that could be clearer than 'I like you?'

Before he had an opportunity to say his piece, she asked, "Well, is it an American thing?"

Ryoma blinked. _A what?_ He shook his head, "You're weird."

"Hey! I was being serious!"

"No, there's nothing like that," Ryoma replied. _This girl of his was so clueless sometimes._ Well, it was kind of maybe a little cute so...whatever.

"Oh, well then, I guess it's just that practice thing," Sakuno muttered as she looked down and picked at the bottom edge of her school skirt.

"What are you talking about?"

Sakuno looked up at him, "Tomo-chan told me all about it. How you're supposed to kiss your friends to learn how to kiss good."

 _What the hell?_ "All my friends are guys."

She blushed, "Oh, I see, so that's why...because I'm the only friend you have that's a girl."

No, he just said all his _friends_ were _guys._

"I guess it would be different for guys than girls, I mean Tomo-chan was saying that it's okay for girls to kiss each other for practice, but maybe that's-"

"You didn't kiss Osakada-san did you?" Ryoma asked, interrupting her.

Sakuno blushed as she shook her head emphatically, "No, she told me about it after she started dating with Tanaka-san. I don't think-"

Ryoma narrowed his eyes at her, "Don't kiss anybody else."

Sakuno covered her face with her arms as her blush deepened. She stomped her foot, "Mou! _Ryoma-kun!_ I won't practice with anybody else, okay? I understand! So stop embarrassing me! It's weird enough thinking about kissing practice with you."

There was nothing weird about kissing him. She was the weird one. It was almost as if she stubbornly didn't get it. Was he _really_ not clear enough?

Ryoma shook his head, ready to explain it to her in the most basic way that her stupid brain could comprehend when she started blabbing away the way she does when she's frazzled, "I always thought Tomo-chan was just joking around with me because I don't have a boyfriend, so I didn't think it was serious. Normally, I would just ask Grandma if it was true, but she's been gone so I-"

Suddenly. He understood.

Grabbing one of her arms, he pulled it away from her face, effectively getting her to stop mid sentence and forcing her to look at him with one eye, "Ne, you're lonely aren't you?"

He watched as she blushed about as hard as she had the day before right after she'd realized she'd actually kissed him when she woke up. It was amazing how she was able to get redder and redder, "I-I-"

He should have figured it out sooner. With Coach being gone until late at night, and her best friend running off with her boyfriend all the time, it was no wonder Ryuzaki was lonely. That must be why she was suddenly so keen on the idea of a boyfriend. It still didn't really explain why she hadn't just come to _him_ first. He'd _practically_ been her boyfriend for the last few years.

"Well, come on then," He said as he resumed their walk back to her place. Sakuno quickly fell into place at his side and the two continued on, both lost in their own thoughts.

If there was one thing he'd got right about Ryuzaki...it was the timing. This was definitely the right time for their relationship to move forward. He'd had no idea she'd been so vulnerable. Home alone, ditched by her friend, being asked out for dates by other boys...what was he going to find out next? How close had he been to missing out on getting this going if she'd decided she liked someone else?

Though...the last couple of days, he'd been wondering if she really did like him. He looked over at her still blushing form from the side of his eyes suspiciously. If she didn't like him, he'd just win her back. That was simply all there was to it. Shouldn't be too difficult with all the "domestic" time they would be spending together, and the added bonus that kissing was on the table. Even if she thought it was only "practice."

He could work with practice. He could work with whatever she decided to throw at him. He was _the prince of freaking tennis._ Challenges were simply one conquest after another for him. It was his way of life. So friend zone? No problem. Kissing is only practice? Bring it. What else you got, Ryuzaki?

Sakuno's thoughts weren't nearly as calm and calculated as Ryoma's. In fact, it was safe to say she was pretty much having a mental breakdown.

Ryoma-kun was going to be _her kissing practice partner._

Not only did that make her heart skip beat, after beat, after beat, to the point that she was starting to worry she would have a permanent heart murmur, but she was a nervous wreck about actually kissing him.

KISSING. RYOMA-KUN.

Two months ago, when she'd realized he wasn't interested in her romantically, the last place she thought she'd find herself in anytime in the future would have been Ryoma-kun's kissing practice partner. He'd even gone so far as to tell her not to kiss anybody else! Mou! Could she die from blushing too much? She felt like she just might find out. Or maybe she would faint!

She bit her lip so hard it started to bleed a little bit. She really couldn't be fainting now. Then she might miss out on this promise of kissing practice and...oh...there went her heart leaping out of her chest again. _She still totally liked him way too much!_ This was really dangerous for her heart! That's what it was!

As they reached Sakuno's house, she retrieved her keys from her book bag and opened up the house. She was surprised when Ryoma followed her into the house again, same as he had the day before when they'd been ditching.

"I didn't know you were going to stay today too, Ryoma-kun," She commented as they made their way into the living room. Then her mind went right back to the place it had been stuck in since the last time they'd spoken and she flushed red with realization.

"Oh! T-That that is...I guess you wanted to ah p-practice _now?"_ Oh, and her voice totally did not just squeak like that! She didn't just start stuttering around him too, did she? Ugh! How completely and utterly mortifying!

One corner of Ryoma's mouth slowly raised up into a smirk.

Sakuno took a step back from him. He was going to kiss her again! This time it would be _for real._

Her heart hammered away at a millions beats per second. Her eyes were glued to his smirking lips. Her mouth was open slightly, almost inviting him to devour it.

Oh yes...she wanted this so badly, it hurt.

Ryoma took a step towards her, and then another step, and then another. Sakuno watched him with rapt attention. Oh, she was going to pass out if he didn't do it quickly! Squinting her eyes closed, she waited.

And waited.

She cracked one eye open, and Ryoma was nowhere in sight. Eh?

"Ne, Ryuzaki, what's for dinner?" At the sound of his voice, she whipped around, her braids swaying in long arcs around her frame.

There he was, sitting at the table in her kitchen, looking right at home.

Her heart still pounding away at a frantic rhythm, Sakuno made her way into the kitchen, her face filled with obvious confusion.

Ryoma's smirk widened, "My tongue is still sore, so nothing too hot or too cold."

Sakuno flushed a deep, dark shade of red, for what seemed like the 100th time that day.

_That cocky tennis prince and his tongue would be the death of her for sure!_

* * *

 


	10. Ten

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Ten

* * *

The next morning, Ryoma watched as Sakuno pulled his hastily scribbled love note out of her shoe locker. His heart was pounding away frantically in his chest. This would be it. This would be the moment. The friend zone would be obliterated, and he would find out if she really did like him the way lovers do or not.

Sakuno bit down on the corner of her lip as her eyebrows furrowed with confusion. He watched as her eyes traveled back and forth across his note once, twice, three times...

She cocked her head to one side as she looked up at her shoe locker with the most confused expression he thought he'd ever seen on her face, and he could only see about half of her face! She hesitantly placed the note back in her locker.

His stomach dropped with dread.

"What is it?" He asked.

She turned towards him, her face still showing her obvious confusion. Then she shook her head and smiled, "Oh, I don't know. I just got this - eh...well, it's probably nothing." She waved her hand in front of her, as if waving her problems to the side.

Ryoma bit back a curse.

_NOTHING!? His love letter was nothing!?_

Then she really surprised him by grabbing the note again and passing it over to him.

What the? Wait a minute. _Was she rejecting him!?_

"Well, the thing is...I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean? Do you think maybe it's a love letter?" She asked.

Ryoma looked down at the note he'd written for her yesterday.

_"Ryuzaki...I like you_ _ THAT _ _way."_

Yes, it still had everything he'd wanted to say on it. It was clear. It was concise and to the point. So... _why didn't she get it yet?_ Why wasn't she jumping into his arms dropping light little kisses against his face with tears of joy? Okay, so maybe she wouldn't react that strongly at school, but this...handing it back to him and asking him what it meant. _This was too much._

"It's a love confession," He informed her bluntly.

She flushed and his heart soared. That was much more like it. So...did she get it now? Was this it? What was he supposed to say now?

She took the note back from him and looked at it again with a slight blush and a soft smile before she shoved it back into her locker. Closing the door to her locker, she turned back to him, "Shall we get to class, Ryoma-kun?"

What...

Wait.

WHAT?

_That was it?_

_Was she kidding with him? She really had NOTHING to say to him about his confession?  
_

"What about your love letter?" He asked before he could stop himself.

Dammit.

Why did he say that? Why was he blurting out completely embarrassing things lately? It was a sickness, that's what. It needed to stop. This was not him. He wasn't _this guy._ He didn't...ugh...why was Ryuzaki so...sooo...soooooo...

She blinked over at him before she shrugged, "What about it?"

STUPID!

Why was she _SO STUPID!_

"Aren't you going to...reply?" Good grief, this was hard. Why did asking her out always feel like pulling teeth? How many insanely uncomfortable conversations was this going to take?

She giggled for a moment before she said, "Ryoma-kun! How could I do that? It wasn't even signed! I have no idea who gave it to me!"

Ryoma wanted to hurt something. His frustration level had gone from moderately high to through the roof in all of five seconds. _He forgot to sign the damn note._ He was back to square one. He could barely believe it. The plan had been so flawless! Now what was he going to do? Just start kissing her now that his tongue was finally all better? Would that even work now that she thought he was just kissing her for practice?

_This was such a disaster._

So far the only good thing to happen in the last few days had been when he'd brushed his lips against hers again last night. It had been brief again since his tongue was still sore, but she'd been ready and kissed him back sweetly just before he'd left her house after dinner a few minutes before Coach Ryuzaki arrived back home. It wasn't the kind of kissing he really wanted to do with her, but it was the best it could get while his tongue was still injured. Now that it was all better, maybe he could simply _show_ her what he meant by saying he liked her. Although...after her weird ideas about practice kissing she'd jumped into yesterday, he was starting to get that now all too familiar sickening feeling in his stomach which told him that _even that_ wouldn't get through to her.

He was at such a loss, he didn't know what to make of it. How could he make her understand him?

It would be too weird to give her another note, right? So what should he do?

As they took their seats in their classroom, Sakuno said, "Oh, by the way Ryoma-kun...I made you bento today."

OKAY. Bento. Progress!

"To thank you for yesterday."

Yesterday.

Yesterday...yesterday...yesterday...hmm...

Nothing was coming to mind.

So...what's this about yesterday? What did _yesterday_ have to do with lunch today?

She must have picked up on his confusion because she clarified in a whisper as their teacher opened the classroom door, "You know, for helping me out with Kawamura-senpai."

_Oh._

That.

Che.

She thought he was _helping?_ He wasn't helping with anything, he was _staking his rightful claim of her._

Stupid. Girl. _  
_

So the bento wasn't because he was her boyfriend now? Really? Feeling a bit disheartened, he resumed his usual blank face and stood up to bow to the teacher along with the rest of his classmates to start the school day.

Their first class after lunch was English, and as Ryoma had paired up with Sakuno as he usually did for English assignments, he was struck with another idea.

Maybe if he showed her some of his handwriting from class assignments, she'd recognize it and see that the love letter was from him? That could work. It had to work.

Something _had_ to work before he went _insane_.

So it was after school, before heading out of the classroom to the tennis team's changing room that he stopped at her desk. Hovering over her as she packed up her pencils and pens into her case he started going through one topic after another, "Ne...did you get all the notes for history class?"

Sakuno looked up at him, startled that he was talking to her after classes instead of immediately heading out to the tennis team's club room. About _taking notes_ of all things.

It was so strange on so many different levels, Sakuno was at a complete loss as to what to make of it. She blinked up at him for a moment trying to process why Ryoma-kun would need to talk to her about such things before she wrote it off as simply another one of his odd quirks that sprang up from time to time and answered, "I don't know, probably."

"What about math?"

Blink. "Well, I-"

Before she could continue, Ryoma dropped a stack of notebooks down on her desk. Sakuno stared at them for a minute, her mind still trying to grasp exactly what was happening.

"Don't let your guard down," He muttered, in true Tezuka style before he walked off.

Sakuno watched him leave with the type of detachment a strange circumstance inflicts on the confused party. As she watched his back retreat she looked back at the stack of notebooks on her desk. Then she looked back towards the doorway Ryoma had just exited from and then back at the stack of notebooks on her desk.

_Was he trying to say she was stupid or what?_

She didn't know if she should be happy he wanted to help her out, or if she should simply be insulted that he didn't think she was capable of taking good notes all on her own.

With a huff, she slid her chair back and rose from her seat, taking in the now deserted classroom. Sliding her chair back under her desk she swept up Ryoma's stack of notebooks with both of her arms and unceremoniously dumped them into her book bag along with her own items she'd already packed up. Hefting up the now much heavier bag, she decided she would just have to force Ryoma-kun to carry her bag home for her today.

_That's what he gets for insinuating she's stupid._

It was after tennis practice and their walk home to Sakuno's house that Ryoma finally brought it up again. "Did you look through my notes?"

Sakuno turned away from the refrigerator where she'd been busy rummaging out ingredients for their dinner and gave Ryoma a surprised look. "Ah...not yet," She replied hesitantly.

"Make sure you study, Ryuzaki," He reinforced.

Sakuno maintained an abnormal amount of self control in that she didn't grab the closest object and lob it at his head. She turned her back to him and gave the cold Pontas sitting on the shelf of her refrigerator a wilted look. It was confirmed.

_He did think she was stupid!_

Great. Now instead of making dinner all she felt like doing was hiding under the covers on her bed and crying. She took in a deep breath and then defended, "I usually get pretty good grades, you know!"

Ryoma's eyes widened as he took in her slightly shaking form standing there in front of the open refrigerator. "Close the 'fridge if you're cold."

_He just completely ignored what she said!_

There had been many occasions in the three years they had known each other that Ryoma-kun had taken her completely off guard, but it still floored her every time he did something like this. She could never quite figure out if _nothing_ got past him, or if _everything_ got past him!

Catching herself from falling on the floor by grasping the refrigerator's handle, she closed the door before turning back towards Ryoma and giving him a weak smile. "How does broiled fish sound?"

He shrugged, which in Ryoma-language meant it was fine, so Sakuno resumed preparing their dinner.

It was nice that Ryoma-kun had been keeping her company in the evenings. She was actually not feeling as lonely, and as weird as everything that had happened this week was, it was still better than her life had been the past few months. Now, if he would just shut up about her grades, and they could do some more practice kissing...

_Mou..._

If only he really liked her and he was her boyfriend...not her friend.

* * *

 


	11. Chapter 11

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Just as he had the previous two days, Ryoma woke up on Friday morning hopeful. Hopeful that is, that this friend zone debacle with Ryuzaki would finally be over and they could start on the much preferred relationship of being lovers.

Firstly, he had left his notes with her overnight, with assurances that she would study them. So, naturally she would recognize his handwriting and make the connection that the unsigned love letter was from him. _Naturally._

More importantly though, was that he'd finally managed to kiss her properly last night on his way out the door.

He hadn't thought of anything else besides that kiss since he'd walked out of her front door. All night, he'd thought about, his heart hammering away. As his eyes had opened first thing in the morning, a slight flush that only Karupin got to witness had graced his cheeks.

He'd _finally_ really kissed her.

_It was amazing._

Well, okay, so despite the fact that he'd gently pressed his lips against hers the previous two nights as he'd left her house, it had still been pretty awkward.

_It was still perfect though._

He felt like he could do anything today. The sky was the limit. He was invincible. He owned the whole world.

All he really wanted to do though was taste her again. That sweet, sweet girl that had been following him around since the start of middle school. His future girlfriend, lover, wife...whatever label they put on it...she would be his forever...and he couldn't be more excited about it.

* * *

Sakuno on the other hand, woke up on Friday morning feeling incredibly apprehensive. She'd barely slept all night with her stresses, worries, and vulnerabilities, and that was on top of the blossoming euphoria she was fighting off that was forcing it's way out of her chest by leaps and heart pounding bounds.

_It happened._

The kiss she never thought would come in her whole lifetime, had come to her last night.

She'd always wanted it to happen, and had at the same time always worried about it actually happening. The thing of it being that, despite the conversation they'd had about practice kissing...kissing changes things. _She sure felt changed._ She'd felt changed a few days ago when she'd accidentally sort-of kissed him at the beach. If she felt like things for them had changed, he probably did too.

That...was terrifying.

What kind of change would their relationship have now? What was she to him? Would it be weird to see him at school today? What about going to his house for dinner with his family tonight? What about tennis practice with all their nosy senpai?

Then there was the part of her that she was trying to deny existed, because it was too dangerous to give her attention to it. The part of her that had always wanted him. The part of her that had always loved him. The part of her that would never get over him no matter how uninterested he was in her romantically. The part of her that couldn't stop thinking about how delicious he tasted. The part of her that didn't care that it was semi-awkward, and was just happy that he'd kissed her. That her _first real kiss_ had been with _him_ , and that despite it not being something perfectly romantic like it was in a chick flick, it was sweet and perfect and wonderful all on it's own.

Because...it was hers. It was theirs. It was _their first kiss_ , and _that_ made it _perfect_.

It also made it a perfect disaster though!

Yes, she had sworn to herself on more than one occasion that she would have him. That someday she would have Echizen Ryoma _like that._

The truth though, was that she'd sworn just as many times that she would never have him. She would never give in to her desires to have him, to kiss him, and taste him. To touch him, and feel him. To feel what it was like when he touched her.

It was too much. It made her want more. It made her greedy. It made her crazy. It made her irrational. It made her want to throw caution to the wind. It made her want to sneak into his bedroom at night, and brush her teeth next to him in the morning. It made her want to make plans for having cute little Echizen babies.

It made her feel all sorts of feelings and desires she had no business thinking about or feeling for Echizen Ryoma.

He was just her friend.

It was well established that they were _just_ friends.

It was impossible for them to really be involved romantically. Just because they would be or could be involved _physically_ , didn't mean that pursuing that with him wouldn't break her fragile little heart into a million pieces.

It was simply that all the things beyond physical things she wanted from him...the love, the future, the children, the life together...well, they were not the things he wanted from her.

She didn't rightly know if he really wanted _anything_ from _her_ at all.

Well, maybe her mouth, and her body...which wasn't really saying much. Ryoma-kun was fifteen. It was natural for him to suddenly be interested in those kinds of things, and any girl would make due. Or at least, any girl that wasn't ugly and wouldn't talk about it with the rest of the world would do. Ryoma-kun didn't really interact with many girls, so it was easy to see how she had become the one he would do these things with.

It was just that if she couldn't have the romance, and the love and the forever after with him, it was for the best for her if she never got anything, right?

Otherwise, how would she ever live the rest of her life without him? How would she ever get over this? How would she ever get married and have babies if it wasn't with Ryoma-kun?

Oh no...the kissing changed things all right. No matter how they labeled it, their relationship had shifted in a big way this week. What was she going to do? How could she fix this?

Did she want to fix it now that she'd had a taste of him? Or did she want to just ride this out and enjoy it for what it was before he had his fill and never spoke to her again?

Feeling beyond overwhelmed with her conflicted emotions, Sakuno made her way to school. Entering her classroom, she took in Ryoma's head laying face first on his desk, just as he usually was every morning so he could get in a few minutes of sleep before classes for the day started. It only took one glance before she blushed ten shades of red as she sat down. She hadn't even seen his face and she was flooded with memories from last night!

_Who knew the back of his head could be so powerful?_

Last...night...just thinking about it made her heart do the dance of a crazy person in love.

It all happened last night. It started out the same as the previous two nights. She had walked him to the door and watched as he stuffed his feet back into his sneakers and picked up his tennis bag. He turned towards her, but unlike the previous two nights, he grabbed her right hand with his left.

Sakuno looked down at her hand as he'd grabbed it and watched in fascination as his fingers caressed her knuckles. At his gentle touch, her heart skipped a beat, before it began bubbling over with her love for him. Feelings she had repressed purposely for months, even years to a degree had all come flooding back the last couple of days, but nothing like this sweet touch of his had invoked.

"Ryuzaki..." He said her name so softly, she almost didn't hear it. She looked up and was caught in his steady gaze. He didn't even blink, or blush, or anything as his fingers continued to lightly sweep across the top of the delicate flesh on the top of her hand.

He moved his face closer to hers, and her eyes only widened slightly at his approach. After all, he'd pecked her on the lips the previous two nights. It was becoming almost a routine that she got a small goodnight kiss from him. Then, about an inch from her mouth, instead of quickly pressing his lips against hers, he whispered against her lips, "Tilt your head."

"What?"

"I'm going to kiss you."

"Okay, but-"

She wasn't even sure what her protest had been, only that before she'd been able to say it, he'd wrapped his right hand in her hair at the base of her neck and tilted her head to the side. A fraction of a second after that, his lips were against hers, open, sucking, a flicker of a lick against her lower lip, and without a second thought, her own lips opened to his, kissing back. Sucking back, licking back, tasting him, all of him, feeling him as he pressed up against her, pulling her closer into him.

Even their embarrassing dressing room encounter had nothing on it. Even the slight taste of him on the beach was nothing in comparison.

He had devoured her completely.

She had returned the favor.

_How was she ever going to even look at him again without fainting?!_

What if his head was down today not for sleeping, but because he didn't want to see her? What if he decided sometime between last night and this morning that he was already done with her? What if that one kiss had been it and he never wanted to kiss her, or speak with her, or see her again? Suddenly overwhelmed with nervous anticipation, overwhelming heartsickness and uncertainty, Sakuno pulled Ryoma's notebooks from her book bag and set them down by his head on his desk.

After all, he would need them for classes today. There was no getting out of it.

Ryoma's head shot up and his eyes locked with hers for a frozen moment. Then he looked away towards the window; a slightly pink hue dusting the tops of his cheeks. Sakuno watched him in awe and wrung her hands out nervously in a way that she hadn't done since she was in middle school.

"Did you look through them?" He muttered towards the window.

Sakuno nodded, and then realizing he couldn't see her nod since he wasn't looking at her, replied, "Yes, I did..."

His head whipped back to her, "So what do you think?"

_What did she think?_ About his notes? They were _notes._ Really...he was so weird sometimes she didn't know what to make of it. On the plus side, her nerves and uncertainty had flown out the window right along with the light pink that had graced Ryoma-kun's cheeks for a moment.

Before Ryoma had the opportunity to get her reply, their teacher entered the classroom, and class was officially underway. So it was at lunchtime that fated Friday that he found himself lingering in the classroom to talk with Ryuzaki instead of heading to the rooftop to take a nap.

Her loud friend Osakada had just settled in the seat in front of him that was directly next to Ryuzaki when he finished asking her once again what she was going to do about her love letter.

It was Osakada that jumped into the conversation though with an obnoxiously loud squeal, "KYAAAAAAAAAA! Sakunooooo! You got a love letter!? Why is this the first I'm hearing about it? Why does Ryoma-sama know?" She then proceeded to turn slanted eyes towards him.

He did not appreciate the suspicious look at all. The hell.

Sakuno waved her hand, "Tomo-chan, Ryoma-kun's shoe locker is next to mine. He was right there when I found it yesterday."

Of course at this point, more obnoxiously loud squealing ensued. After about a minute of nothing but excessive noise, Osakada demanded, "So tell me what it says! Have you replied yet? Who is it from?"

Ryoma wondered for not the first time, nor the last how Ryuzaki's best friend was able to breathe with how much she screamed, and talked, and talk-screamed. Really...she never shut up.

Sakuno scratched the back of her head awkwardly for a moment before she stuttered, "I-I-it s-said...ano...I l-like you _th-that_ way."

Of course, more squealing promptly commenced from the loud one.

"So who sent it to you?" Tomoka finally asked after she calmed down again. She was waving her arms around and speed talking something about, "how awesome" it was that, "Sakuno would have a boyfriend now!"

Finally, Sakuno shook her head, "I have no idea who sent it to me, they didn't sign it."

"WHAT!? How could he not sign it?! Sakuno! This is a tragedy! Oh, your poor love life!" She proceeded in this vein for about another five minutes.

Ryoma sat there brooding over the fact that Ryuzaki had looked through all of those notes he'd done yesterday with no results. The bummer was that he usually didn't take notes at all, in fact he'd only done it so she could see his writing. The real sting of it though, was that somehow despite all his efforts, she still hadn't connected his handwriting with the love note.

"Well, I wasn't even sure it was a love letter until I showed it to Ryoma-kun, b-but he said it was a confession," Sakuno added with a full flush on her face.

"It was a love confession," He added in quickly as her friend started up again at how it was so exciting to have "a secret admirer."

It wasn't a secret at all. He'd told her directly that he liked her at least three times this week, dammit.


	12. Chapter 12

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Twelve

* * *

By the time tennis practice was over on Friday, Ryoma was in an epic internal battle.

He couldn't make up his mind if he really wanted to kiss Ryuzaki again, _or spank her._

Of course, the sane part of him knew he shouldn't really be spanking her, but that afternoon during practice his frustration level had induced a fantasy that had started out with a fairly gentle smack on her ass, with her bent over his legs. After effectively getting her attention with the spanking, things had escalated quickly as they usually did when it came to her. It was an oddly satisfying fantasy. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to own up to enjoying it yet, but he was feeling a little desperate to get her attention. Maybe it was because he was so frustrated with her. It made him want to act out. Maybe if he spanked her for real she would scold him.

Maybe she would spank him back.

_That kind of sounded promising._

More promising that is, than what the normal sane part of him wanted to do, which was to simply kiss her senseless. Which he'd already very enjoyably done, it just hadn't produced the relationship results he was looking for. Kissing her was...well he had no words. It was that consuming. However, kissing apparently still left him in the friend zone.

He did not want to be anywhere near her friend zone. The sight of him should make her heart float out of her body and an unexplained smile to break out on her face. He wanted her to want to touch him, and taste him, and someday become a new family of their own.

Not make her smile gently and tell him what a good friend he was.

So troublesome. _Troublesome clueless girl._ What was he going to do with her to get her to understand?

So while debating on a good smack on her bum versus kissing her, he showered after tennis practice and then tracked her down. There she was waiting for him at the tennis court benches, "You ready?"

She gave a slight nod as she rose up from the bench and gathered up her belongings.

Ryoma almost reached out to smack her rump as she'd turned away from him, but thought better of it and instead stuck his fist in his mouth.

_Don't...do...it...don't smack her ass...don't do it...don't do it...  
_

He bit down on his knuckles hard just as she turned back to him.

"What are you doing?" She asked; shock and horror in her voice.

Ryoma looked down at the tooth marks on his hand.

_Whoops._

"Nothing."

She grabbed his fist, forcing it to uncurl with her hands as she muttered and grumbled about self inflicted pain.

Ryoma's heart thumped at her touch.

He noticed with a type of satisfaction that she was flushed red...

_Well...now...that had some promise._

Quickly flipping his hand over, he grasped her hand in his, and tugged her towards him. "Let's go."

She fumbled forward a bit, but allowed him to keep hold of her hand as he walked them out of the school and towards his house.

As usual, Sakuno found herself overwhelmed the moment she stepped into the Echizen household. Uncle Nanjiro was really...

_Outgoing._

She'd barely managed to slip off one of her shoes before Ryoma's father had her smaller form wrapped up in a big bear hug.

"Saku-chan!" He greeted enthusiastically as he crushed her ribs and shook her up and down like she was still a five year old, not a fifteen year old.

"Mou...un-cle...it hur-hur-hur-hurts," She meekly protested in a rattled voice as he shook her. She madly gasped for air, hoping he would put her down quickly.

Ryoma's racquet dug into the back of his father's knee, "Don't manhandle my girlfriend, Baka Oyaji."

Sakuno blushed so hard, she was pretty sure she was about to faint.

_Did Ryoma-kun seriously just call her his girlfriend?_

He'd never done _that_ before. Maybe he really did like her...like how a boy likes a girl...well...maybe...

_No._

Can't get caught up in wishful thinking. He's just protecting her from his goofy father. She really needed to stop thinking every little comment from him had some possibly deeper meaning. It wasn't doing her heart any good for it to be continuously jumping in and out of her body like this!

"I thought you said she wasn't your girlfriend," Nanjiro teased as he set Sakuno back down on her feet.

"Mou..." Sakuno sighed under her breath as she slipped off her other shoe and quickly swiped away a traitorous tear that had slipped from the corner of her right eye. Her heart was stabbed with pain at Uncle's offhand comment. _So he really didn't think she was his girlfriend, he was just saying that for some reason._ It shouldn't hurt her feelings so much! This was _exactly why_ she wasn't supposed to like him anymore! She quickly stuffed her feet into her usual houseguest slippers, knowing Auntie would be next, and while not as bad as Uncle, still had a tendency to greet her with much enthusiasm.

Auntie did not disappoint. A few seconds after her feet were in her slippers, Rinko had engulfed the younger woman in her arms, "Awww Sakuno-chan you came to visit me!"

Sakuno returned the hug, "Hi Auntie."

"Whatever," Ryoma said to his father as he grabbed Sakuno's hand and tugged her out of his mother's grip.

Nanjiro started cracking up while Rinko complained about missing the big joke. Nanjiro wrapped one arm around his wife's shoulders as he gloated, "You're going to be happy. The young man just called Saku-chan his girlfriend."

_"He didn't!"_ Rinko replied scandalously. A wide smile broke out on her face. She was practically glowing with happiness.

Sakuno wanted to crawl under a rock and die. This had officially gone _beyond_ embarrassing, and she still felt like crying.

Ryoma rolled his eyes, "Why don't you old people just stay out of it."

"Aww, how cute, he's finally in love," Nanjiro quickly quipped back.

"So when do we get grandbabies?" Rinko asked.

Sakuno's eyes widened to the size of saucers as Ryoma commented dryly, "That escalated quickly."

"Mou, Ryoma-kun! This is why I told you I shouldn't come over," Sakuno complained quietly.

Unfortunately, the adults still heard her, even though her comment was only intended for the boy still holding her hand.

Mou...he _really was_ still holding her hand! _In front of his parents!_ They were definitely going to misunderstand this time!

Nanjiro laughed again as he wrapped his other arm around Sakuno's shoulders, effectively moving her and Rinko along with him as they headed towards the family room. "Nonsense Saku-chan. Even if you don't marry our worthless son, you'll always be like a daughter to us."

Sakuno choked, and coughed violently to cover it up. _Mou...when would this teasing end already? And why was Ryoma-kun still holding her hand and forcing her to drag him behind her?_

Of course at that point, Sakuno was saved by the arrival of her grandmother.

"I'm here," Ryuzaki Sumire announced from the front door.

"Just let yourself in Old Lady," Nanjiro responded as he let go of his wife and Sakuno to head back towards the front door they'd left open for the arrival of the beloved Seigaku Middle School Tennis Team Coach.

"Hi Grandma," Sakuno greeted as she arched sideways around Nanjiro's back to see her.

"Hi Sakuno. How was your day?" Sumire responded to her granddaughter.

"It was fine," Sakuno replied.

It didn't take long for the whole group of them to end up in the Echizen's kitchen where they spent the next couple of hours. The ladies finished the food preparation while the boys bickered and teased.

After a satisfying meal, they regrouped in the family room. As the adults started in on a more serious conversation, Ryoma looked sideways at Sakuno.

Somehow the girl was able to look like she wasn't as bored out of her brains as he was at the adult gossip about so in so and what's his face, etc. Well, even if by some miracle she actually gave a care about what the adults were discussing, Ryoma had a plan. A plan he'd had at the beginning of the week when he'd instructed Ryuzaki to invite her grandmother along for the family meal.

They were going to go sneak off to his room. Now.

He stealthily poked her in the side and whispered, "I want to show you something."

Sakuno was surprised that Ryoma had poked her, but as he got up, she followed along. A few seconds later, they were alone in the downstairs hallway.

"Finally," Ryoma said grouchily.

"What's wrong?" Sakuno asked at his odd comment.

He gave her a look like she was crazy for not understanding him, but didn't elaborate his thoughts. Instead, he headed towards the stairs to lead the way to his room.

Sakuno, unsure what was going on, followed him up the stairs and down to the end of the hallway where his room was located. "What are we doing?" She asked quietly as he opened up his bedroom door.

Ryoma gave her a slight glare over his shoulder.

"Yes...what _are_ you doing?" Nanjiro asked as well, suddenly appearing behind them. He sounded so happy at catching them sneaking off that it bordered on putting him in a hospital for crazy people.

"Old. Man."

"Yes...Young...Man?" Nanjiro mocked just as slowly.

Ryoma didn't reply, he just glared daggers at his father.

Unfazed, Nanjiro's grin widened further. Then he asked, "So are you sneaking off to make out with Saku-chan?"

Ryoma's eyes narrowed down to thin slits for a fraction of a second. Then he opened his bedroom door and shoved Sakuno inside. She shrieked in surprise while Ryoma followed in right behind her, quickly spinning around to slam the door closed.

Nanjiro was just as speedy as he arrived at the door just in time to put his foot between the door and the door jamb. He wrapped his hand around the top portion of the door, trying to wrench it open while Ryoma tried with equal force to continue closing the door.

"So you are going to make out?" He asked as the two struggled back and forth for a few moments, the door slipping between further open and further closed several times.

_"YES! We're going to make out so leave us alone!"_ Ryoma yelled as he dug his heel into Nanjiro's foot, causing him to yell out in pain and remove his foot from keeping the door from closing.

Ryoma's bedroom door slammed shut with force. He quickly locked it, just as the door knob began to wiggle from the other side.

"Ne...Seishounen!" Nanjiro whined through the door.

Ryoma kicked the door, and it shook once again with some force.

Sakuno cowered against the far wall of Ryoma's room, wondering what had just happened. Sure, she was used to Ryoma and Uncle's odd ways of practically fighting all the time...but...

Ryoma-kun just told his father they were going to make out!

She was _so_ going to faint _any second._


	13. Chapter 13

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

It was on Friday night, there in Echizen Ryoma's bedroom, with his pervy old man out in the hallway trying to listen in (unsuccessfully) and Ryuzaki Sumrie and Echizen Rinko conversing downstairs that Ryuzaki Sakuno really felt like she was getting in some _serious_ kissing practice.

It had started out simply enough. She wasn't given the opportunity to process that Ryoma-kun and Uncle Nanjiro had a fight over the door, ending in Ryoma-kun yelling that she was his girlfriend and they were going to make out before they had indeed begun making out.

If she thought the kiss last night was a big deal...it had nothing on what was happening _right now._

Ryoma had his hands circling both of her wrists as he locked eyes with her. It felt like he'd stared into her very soul before he slowly moved closer, pressing his lips up against hers. At the contact, Sakuno's eyes drifted shut, and she pressed her lips back against his.

He pulled back slightly to look into her eyes again before closing the distance again. This time, his lips felt slightly wet, and she felt a bit of his tongue as it grazed against her bottom lip. Her heart hammered away as her mouth unconsciously opened slightly.

He pulled back again and stared into her eyes again for a prolonged few seconds. Sakuno felt as if all the breath in her body was taken away from her. Her heart hammered away quadruple time, and she felt like she was going to die from the emotions that were pouring out of the deepest part of her body.

She really shouldn't like him this much. It was beyond dangerous. Especially not with the way he was staring into her eyes. It made her want to give him every part of her forever and ever. How was it possible to feel so completely connected in every way and yet also so completely disconnected in every way to the same person in the same moment?

She didn't know, but she felt like her whole body just might explode at any second from the emotions bursting from her chest. Ryoma kissed her again, this time, licking her bottom lip, and as she opened her mouth in response, and tasted him yet again, she thought for a moment she had died and gone to heaven.

It was...magic.

She grabbed onto his shirt sleeves as he wrapped her up in his arms, pulling her closer, kissing her deeper. She was so grateful he was holding her, because she just might fall over otherwise.

Kissing Ryoma-kun was beyond anything she had ever imagined. Kissing him again, was...

It was...

Something she never wanted to end. Especially since it somehow made him vocal. She really did feel like she was getting kissing lessons with Ryoma's almost running commentary.

"Yes."

"Good."

"Like that."

"Again."

"More."

"There."

It wasn't until Sakuno had her head leaned back against the wall while Ryoma was sucking on her neck that she realized this make out session had gone _way beyond_ the friendly practice kissing zone.

Ryoma-kun was sucking on her neck, and rubbing his hands up and down her arms while she moaned into his ear.

_What...just...happened?_

Unfortunately for Sakuno, she didn't get to process what had happened, or what was happening, because there was a pound on the door followed by Nanjiro announcing, "The Old Hag wants to go home."

Sakuno bit her lip, feeling incredibly unhappy with the prospect of leaving. Unconsciously, she raised her eyes up, only to meet with Ryoma's penetrating, level gaze...focused completely on her.

"Do you want to go?" He asked lowly.

She shook her head no emphatically.

Half a smirk appeared on his lips. She wanted to kiss him again desperately. Oh, if only...

He pressed his lips against her own a few more times in short, brief kisses. It left her wanting more so desperately, she almost grabbed the front of his shirt to yank him back to herself as he pushed away from the wall and her.

"I'll walk Ryuzaki home," Ryoma said to the closed door.

"The Old Hag wants Saku-chan to come now," Nanjiro responded.

Sakuno pushed away from the wall, moving quickly towards Ryoma's door to open it. As she arrived at the door and placed her hand on the knob, Ryoma grasped her wrist, stopping her from turning it. He looked into her eyes again before kissing her so softly and so sweetly, she almost cried.

"I like you," He said as he pulled away.

Sakuno followed his lips as they pulled away, "So you keep telling me."

She wanted to _cry._

Why couldn't that mean so much more? Why couldn't he mean what she _wanted_ him to mean?

She unlocked the door and turned the handle as Ryoma moved in and kissed her again.

WHY? Why? _Why?_

…

Uncle Nanjiro was there to greet her as the door swung open.

The older man took one look at Sakuno and then grinned above her head at his son, "You really were making out!"

Sakuno felt her face flush red.

UNCLE! Why does he have to...?

Ryoma scoffed as he gave his father a bit of a shove, pushing him further out into the hallway.

"Mou! _Uncle!_ Ryoma-kun and I are _just friends,_ you know," Sakuno insisted.

Both of Nanjiro's eyebrows shot up with surprise. It was only a moment later when his eyes had locked with his son's irritated ones.

_So the Old Hag's granddaughter had put his son in the friend zone._

He kind of wanted to laugh his ass off. It did look like they were really making out though.

_Hmmm...complicated._

And just a little tiny bit sad too.

He threw his arm around the girl who obviously held his son's affections and steered her towards the stairway, whispering, "Don't break his heart."

Sakuno's eyes shot up to Nanjiro's with obvious shock, "What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't know what you mean!?"

One eyebrow raised skeptically, "Don't you?"

Ryoma grabbed Sakuno's hand, pulling her out from under his father's arm, "I told you not to manhandle her."

"Oh, but that was when she was your girlfriend," Nanjiro quipped.

Ryoma suddenly really wanted to punch something.

"Mou! We have never!" Sakuno protested.

Nanjiro snickered, "You better do something quick, Seishounen!"

"Whatever," Ryoma said. Feeling that familiar stabbing pain in his chest all week that Ryuzaki seemed to keep insisting on making him feel, he dropped her hand like it was a hot potato and turned around, heading back to his bedroom.

Sakuno blinked with confusion, "Mou! Uncle you upset Ryoma-kun like always."

"I think that was _you,_ princess."

"I don't understand."

"Think about it."

With that, Nanjiro delivered Sakuno to her grandmother, whom had been patiently waiting at the front door. They got into their car and drove home.

Sakuno stayed up all night wondering what had happened to her at the Echizens. First Ryoma-kun...then Uncle Nanjiro...neither of them made any sense.

All she knew for sure was that she wanted more kisses like that from Ryoma-kun...even if it meant he was going to tear her heart out with a spoon and stomp on it and leave her broken and damaged for the rest of her life.

It would be worth it.

* * *

Saturday came too quickly for Echizen Ryoma. He wanted to sleep all day. He wanted to sleep all weekend. He wanted to sleep until this stabbing pain in his chest from Ryuzaki went away already.

Why was she insisting on hurting him like this? Why couldn't she just like him back? Why was it so hard to make her understand him? Why was something that was supposed to be so simple for them so complicated and painful?

Falling in love was supposed to be a good experience...wasn't it?

Well...maybe the falling in love part had been a good experience, seeing as how that had probably actually happened years ago. It was the doing something about it part that seemed to be causing all this pain.

The kissing last night had really been something too. She'd been so receptive. She'd been so soft. She'd been so perfect. He could still hear her soft moans in his ear, and taste her sweet lips on his tongue.

He could easily spend hours doing these things with her every day for the rest of his life and still never feel like he had enough of her. Did she even like him a little bit? Did she really only see this as practice? Did she really not want anything more from him?

How far could he push it before she would snap and he would find out? Or how many times would he need to tell her he liked her after kissing before she started to believe him?

How was he ever going to overcome this friend zone? Was it possible?

Then the very last thing Echizen Ryoma ever wanted to happen in his entire lifetime...happened.

His old man opened his bedroom door. Without a greeting, or a warning, his curtain was pulled open, and the sunshine poured in on his face.

With a growl, Ryoma flipped over, burying his head under his pillow, "Go away Baka Oyaji!"

There was a jab into his side followed by a snicker and then, "The little princess put you in the friend zone."

Now he _really_ wanted to punch a hole through the wall.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Irritated beyond all measure, Ryoma flipped over and chucked his pillow at his father, "I already tried _everything. The girl is stupid!"_

Unable to hold it in any longer, Echizen Nanjiro burst out laughing.

Ryoma got madder. "Just leave already, Old Man!"

It was bad enough between his own ears. It was kind of eased when he'd told Momoshiro, and at least he'd tried to help out. But this...this mocking from his old man about it. It was too much. He needed to kill something.

"MATCH. NOW."

Jumping out of his bed, Ryoma startled Karupin, his poor kitty who ran under his bed with a hiss.

Undaunted by his unhappy cat, Ryoma grabbed his racquet and his hat and about ran to the court, still in his pajamas.

This was it. The old man was going to get owned on the court today, or he would die trying.


	14. Chapter 14

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

Echizen Ryoma, (fifteen years old) tried to kill his father out on the temple's tennis court for 3 hours straight, before the two finally called it a draw. As they made their way into the house, got scolded by Echizen Rinko for Ryoma being out playing tennis in his pajamas, and took turns bathing, Ryoma ruminated over everything that had happened that week.

The fantasies, the ditch day, the pecks on the lips, the confessions, the love letter, and finally their hot and heavy make out session in his bedroom last night. He still didn't know what to do.

_He still kind-of wanted to kill his old man._ That was about all his brain was capable of settling on. So he was fairly shocked when after a hearty lunch, his father pulled him aside and handed him a credit card and a fat wad of cash.

"Buy her flowers, chocolates, and jewelry. Keep kissing her. If you can manage it...tell her you love her. Ask her to marry you or somthing. She'll figure it out eventually."

Ryoma's mouth dropped open and he gaped at his father.

_Did he just...?_

He never in a million years thought he would actually try to help him with this. Not to mention it sounded like good advice. Much better than anything he would have expected from his old man...which would have actually consisted of something more sexually detailed that would probably scar him for the rest of his life.

"Thanks," He found himself saying.

He was still not quite sure how his old man had actually managed to do something good for once. Still...you wouldn't find him complaining about all this financial aid. Nope. He was going to do something good with all this. Ryuzaki was going to be putty in his hands.

He was going to just go all out. It would work. It had to work. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

* * *

Ryoma was less than thrilled when Ryuzaki canceled tennis practice on Sunday afternoon. In all the years he'd been teaching her, he could count on one hand the number of times she'd canceled on him. This cancellation made him suspicious. It made him worried. It made the pain in his chest increase exponentially.

On Monday, things with Ryuzaki Sakuno were no better. He was greeted with the typical greeting he received from her in the morning. He received no bento for lunch, and she even made an attempt to blow off watching the boys' tennis practice.

Ryoma was starting to get mad at her. He really shouldn't need to enlist the help of Momoshiro to make Ryuzaki come to tennis practice. He shouldn't have to worry if they would walk home together. It should be the normal routine by now.

_How was it that all his efforts seemed to be having the opposite effect?_

As they walked home that day, it got even worse.

"Ne...wanna go see Action Movie X?" He asked.

Sakuno shook her head, "I saw it already."

"What about Comedy Movie L?"

"I saw that one too."

"Horror Movie Z?"

"I went to that one too, even though I don't like horror movies."

"Romance Movie G?"

Sakuno shook her head once again, "I saw that the day it came out."

Why couldn't she get the hint he had no interest in actually watching the movies, and just wanted to go somewhere dark, where they could be alone and make out?

Sakuno felt supremely pathetic as Ryoma continued to ask her about all the current movies in the theatre. She'd seen them _all._ Before he'd started going home with her in the evenings, it was one of the few things she'd done to try to ease her loneliness. Tomo-chan was always with her boyfriend, and Grandma didn't get home until well after it was dark out. The movies had been her companions...

Oh, she suddenly felt like a _very sad girl._

She had no life. She had no boyfriend. The boy she was in love with was in love with tennis.

It was cruel.

So it kind of surprised her when upon entering her home that evening, the very boy she wanted more than anything grabbed her wrist and yanked her into his arms.

His kisses were hot and demanding. They made her feel things deep inside her gut. They made her want a lot more from him than she really had any business even thinking about wanting.

_Or so she kept telling herself._

She was so lost in the sensations, the wants and the feelings welling up inside herself, threatening to burst forth from her at any given second, that she didn't even notice they had made their way to her bedroom.

She didn't even notice right away that Ryoma was laying on top of her on her bed.

She didn't even notice that clothing was being removed from both of them.

All she really knew was that if he didn't stop kissing her like this she was going to tell him how much she loved him. Then she would die as he left her and then never spoke to her again.

So she kissed him back, and touched him back, and paused her brain from thinking. She tried desperately to keep herself from speaking, even though Ryoma-kun was whispering all sorts of things to her that made her want to tell him that she would devote the rest of her life to being anything and everything he'd ever want from her.

He was _beyond dangerous_.

It was yummy though. Very, very, yummy.

It was a shock to her then, when she woke from her haze by the shocking touch of his hot tongue licking her nipple.

She jumped up from her bed, her arms unconsciously wrapped across her bare chest as she took in Ryoma's equally half dressed state.

"WHAT?" She hissed in a panic.

She looked down and took in her own lack of dress and about fainted right there on the spot.

"Ryoma-kun!" She wailed.

Oh, she was so ruined now. _She could never even look at him again after this._ How had things gotten this far? How did this happen? What in the...?

"I'm home!" Announced Ryuzaki Sumire from downstairs.

The two teenagers locked eyes with a panicked look.

They were about to get _caught._

Suddenly, Ryoma was in motion. He was stuffing her arms into her uniform top, while buttoning his own back up again. Sakuno found herself joining him, as the two hastily helped each other get back into their school uniforms.

She combed her hands through his hair for him as he dropped a quick kiss against her neck, and Sakuno found herself fuming mad that her grandmother had interrupted them. There was something so beautiful about this whole situation. Sometime in this past week or so, she had synced up with him.

_They were moving and thinking as one._

All she wanted to do was savor it. All she wanted to do was enjoy it.

_All she wanted was more of Ryoma-kun._

By the time Ryuzaki Sumire opened Sakuno's bedroom door and peeked in on the two teens, they were sitting side by side against her bed, with their English text books open.

"Welcome home Grandma," Sakuno greeted.

"Oh, Ryoma. I didn't know you were here," Sumire said.

"Hn," Ryoma responded with his typical I couldn't give a damn attitude in full effect.

Sakuno giggled nervously and said, "Ryoma-kun has been helping me with my English."

Of course, Sakuno's grandmother took it all at face value, having no idea that the young man in the room was actually running his fingers down the side of her granddaughter's arm, causing her nervous giggle.

Oh, the beauties of angles, and hiding things from adults. It was oddly romantic, and Sakuno felt her heart jumping into her throat as she added, "We'll be down for dinner in a few minutes. We have one more section to cover."

"Take your time," Sumire said before closing the door. She found herself wondering why in the world the cockiest tennis brat she'd ever known would help her granddaughter with her English homework, but she wasn't one to complain about help when it came to grade improvement, so she didn't comment further.

As the door to her bedroom closed, Ryoma's lips were once again connecting with her neck and Sakuno sighed as she dropped her head back against her bed. He crawled on top of her and rubbed his hands slowly up her sides as she bit her lip to remain quiet.

_What in world was happening with them?_ This _wasn't_ friendly kissing practice! This was where only her fantasies had ever been before! What was he _doing_ to her? _Who was this Sakuno?_

_Why wasn't she protesting?_

_Where was her dignity?_

She didn't know. All she seemed to know today was Ryoma-kun.

After dinner, Sakuno saw him to the front door, and she wanted to cry when he didn't kiss her goodnight. Of course, the rational part of her knew she received no kiss because her grandmother had been right there within hearing and viewing distance.

However, the irrational part of her that was falling deeper in love with the tennis prince with every second that passed by, just wanted to scream. She wanted _her goodnight kiss._ She wanted _more than that._ She wanted to take him back to her bedroom, and lock the door, and forget that the rest of the world even existed or mattered as she melted into one with him.


	15. Chapter 15

**The Friend Zone**

_For_ _**OrangeAce** _

Canon Knowledge: Anime only

What you want to receive: Fic

Prompt: Nothing is interesting if you're not interested

What you want to see: Coming-of-age, Ryoma sees Sakuno in a new light, mixture of humor and drama, family, Nanjiroh's appearance, failed attempts

What you don't want to see: OOCness. That is all.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

On Tuesday morning Ryuzaki Sakuno felt like she had come to her senses. She talked herself out of doing this and that with Ryoma-kun. She talked herself out of the possibility that he liked her romantically. She talked herself out of everything.

It was for her own good. She really needed to protect herself from him already. He was going to break her heart so completely if this continued that she would probably just kill herself when it was over. When Ryoma-kun had his fill of their "practice" or when Ryoma-kun met a girl he loved and dumped her to be with this other girl, she would just die. It wasn't just a little part inside of her that yearned for him and loved him. It was her whole body now. She practically vibrated her love for him out of herself with every breath. She felt like she couldn't breathe when he wasn't around. She felt like her heart was going to squeeze itself to death and burst into flames of passionate love simultaneously.

It was too much. It was killing her. She just couldn't take it anymore.

On top of these feelings that were overtaking her, they got back their test results from the previous week. She did horribly. So badly that she was scheduled to go back into school on Saturday for a retest.

It was all Ryoma-kun's fault! He had her twisted up and rolled around so completely she couldn't even think straight these days.

So when he handed her a small box on their way home from tennis practice that afternoon and told her that he liked her again, Sakuno burst into tears.

Ryoma's eyes widened with surprise.

_Why was she crying!?_

They stood there awkwardly on the sidewalk. Ryoma had his hands stuffed into his pockets, gripping the sides of his legs so that he didn't grab her by the shoulders and shake her violently while demanding from her an explanation as to why she was crying.

There was _nothing_ he hated more than when this girl of his cried.

Sakuno sobbed into her hands, wishing she could somehow reign in her emotions and stop crying already. It was so embarrassing! To cry in front of Ryoma-kun always made her wallow in shame and guilt. She hated it _the most._

Somehow he always managed to bring her nerves and her emotions to the surface. To this boiling, overflowing point. To this critical mass. To this...oh she loved him so much..and now here he was giving her jewelry like a real boyfriend.

Did he really not understand? That he needed to stop doing this before she loved him so much that she burst into flames? Before she tried to monopolize him so completely that he would tell her all sorts of hurtful things to make the annoying girl go away?

Oh, she never wanted that to happen, but it was looking more and more inevitable with each passing moment.

"Mou, Ryoma-kun. How did you know I did so bad on my test?"

Ryoma, who had been glaring off into the distance, swung his head back in her direction.

_What the hell was she talking about? What test?_

"I mean, thank you for trying to cheer me up about it, but you really shouldn't do these things."

His mouth opened slightly at the horrible realization that this girl was still trying to keep him in the friend zone.

Was even jewelry really not clear enough? His old man had seemed to think this would be _really clear._ For once in his life, he'd actually agreed with his old man.

"Ryuzaki. I like you already," He said irritably.

"Mou! Ryoma-kun! You can't act like my boyfriend anymore you're messing me up!"

_Huh?_

"Don't look at me like that!"

_Was she seriously yelling at him?_

"Oi! I _like_ you!" He said.

_Just understand this time!_

She shoved the ring box back towards him, and Ryoma hastily caught it before it dropped on the ground. By the time he looked up, Sakuno had already ran down the street.

Oh, he was really going to kill her this time!

"Ryuzaki!" He yelled out.

Was she really forcing him to chase her down again? Just like the day they skipped and went to the beach?

"Leave me alone!" She paused to yell back at him before she noticed he didn't even pause and turned to run again.

Ryoma's eyes narrowed dangerously. Enough was enough! He increased his speed and caught her at the gate to her house. Grabbing her wrist he yanked her into her front yard.

"Mou! Ryoma-kun!" She protested.

"Why are you so stupid?" He muttered grouchily.

Her jaw dropped open.

_My, but he was really mean when he wanted to be! Couldn't he just leave her to be heartbroken?_

She shoved her key into the lock and pushed the door to her home open with force. Then she slumped on the floor in the entryway, her tears quickly lengthening as she allowed herself to just _cry._

"Stop crying!"

She did not stop at all. In fact...if anything, her tears increased.

Not sure what else to do, Ryoma closed the door and then dropped down in front of her. He sat there crossed legged and watched as she cried herself dry.

Finally as she sniffled a bit, he asked, "Why are you crying, Ryuzaki?"

"I don't want to talk about it," She said to the floor.

"Was it the ring?" He asked.

She shook her head, "It's...more complicated than that."

Ryoma closed his eyes briefly for moment, wishing he just understood what her problem was.

"Do you not like me?" He asked.

Her head snapped up, her eyes wide, "Of course I like Ryoma-kun!"

Wow...she still didn't understand what he meant. What was he supposed to say? Why couldn't the right words come to him?

"That note was from me, you know."

Sakuno gave him a puzzled look, "What note?"

"The note last week."

Her brows furrowed for a moment and then lifted. He could swear he saw the light bulb turn on in her head.

Was she really finally starting to understand?

"Wait...but... _you said..."_ She trailed off and looked to the side. Her face covered with confusion.

"Ryuzaki."

She didn't even blink as she continued to stare off into the void of space that was her living room.

"Ryuzaki." He said again, slightly slower.

She continued to look lost and confused, with her head turned away from him.

Had she gone into shock or something? Was she upset? Did she finally understand?

He grabbed her hand, and it seemed to snap her out of her stupor. She whipped her head to him and gave him a long blink with her big brown eyes.

"Ryoma...kun?"

He pulled her hand closer to him and said, "Sakuno-"

She gasped.

"I like you."

"What? Can this really be true?"

"I like you like I love you kind of like you."

He watched in dismay as tears began pouring out of the corners of her eyes again.

"Why are you crying?!" He demanded.

Oh, but this time it was okay, because before he knew it, she was sitting on him. Her arms were wrapped around his neck as she rained kisses all over every inch of visible skin on his body.

"I love you!" She said.

"Oi..wait a-"

"I love you so much!" She added.

Oh and now he was _blushing._

Dammit. Why did she have to be _so cute?_

"Hey," He said between the kisses she kept pecking on his lips.

"Hmm?"

"Does this mean you're going to finally be my girlfriend?"

She giggled, "Ryoma-kun is so funny!"

"What does that mean?"

"Of course!" More giggles, "I have loved you forever anyway."

"Oh." He paused for a second as he processed what was going on. Wait. Everything just worked out all the sudden! Wait...she just said...

"Good," He muttered to himself.

She heard him anyway. More giggling as he felt his blush increase.

Since...forever?

"Me too."

And then...Ryuzaki Sakuno fainted.

"Mada mada dane."

* * *

Thank you so much everybody for reading my funny little fic. I love you all. xoxo ~ Bunny ^^


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